Shear Bond Strength of Lithium Disilicate to Resin Cement After Treatment with Hydrofluoric Acid and a Self-etching Ceramic Primer

The aim of this work was to analyze the properties and shear bond strength (SBS) of lithium disilicate to resin cement before and after etching the glass-ceramic surfaces. Lithium-metasilicate samples were heat treated and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray diffraction and roughness measurement. For the analysis of the shear bonding strength (SBS) of lithium disilicate to dental resin cement, three groups (n = 12) of Li2Si2O5 were prepared: 1 degrees)without treatment (NT); 2 degrees)surface etching with hydrofluoric acid(HF), followed by silane agent and adhesive treatment; 3 degrees) surface treatment with a self-etching ceramic primer (SECP). After the heat-treatment, the samples had Li2Si2O5 crystalline phase dispersed in a residual amorphous phase. Roughness of the NT and SECP samples was smaller that of the HF samples. Samples without surface treatment (NT) had the lowest SBS (5.5MPa). HF(24.2MPa) and SECP(24.8MPa) samples has similar SBS. Weibull statistics showed that HF-samples are more reliable than NT and SECP. The SBS was significantly increased by either HF etching and SECP surface treatment. While the chemical characteristics of the surface submitted to SECP treatment are considered to be responsible for the SBS increase, the main adhesion mechanism after HF etching is the increase in surface roughness.