Effect of etchant variability on shear bond strength of all ceramic restorations - an in vitro study.

The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of pre-luting surface treatments by 3 different etchant used at 3 different etching periods and their effect on shear bond strength of IPS Empress 2 luted to tooth by dual cure resin cement. Fifty samples of ceramic were divided into four groups as group I control group: No surface treatment, group II: Etched with Hydrofluoric (HF) acid (4.9%), group III: Etched with Ammonium bifluoride acid (9.4%) and group IV: Etched with Phosphoric acid (37%). Group II, III and IV were further divided into 3 Subgroups; namely A, B and C according to the etching periods (20, 60 and 120 s) respectively. The shear bond strength was determined by using a Universal testing Machine. The morphological changes of the surface treated ceramic samples prior to luting to tooth and mode of the fracture failure after shear bond test were observed by using a Scanning Electron Microscope. The mean shear bond strength was highest when IPS Empress 2 ceramic samples were surface treated using 4.9% Hydrofluoric acid gel and 9.4% Ammonium bifluoride acid for 120 s. The least mean shear bond strength was noticed in case of control group, where no surface treatment was done and samples treated by 37% Phosphoric acid. Thus it could be concluded, that Ammonium bifluoride could be an appropriate alternative to be used instead of HF acid. 120 s etching showed highest bond strength values for HF acid (4.9%) and Ammonium bifluoride (9.4%).