Strength and thickness of the layer of materials used for ceramic veneers bonding.

The use of adhesive bonding systems and composites in prosthetic dentistry brought improved and more aesthetic prosthetic restorations. The adhesive bonding of porcelain veneers is based on the micromechanical and chemical bond between tooth surface, cement layer and ceramic material. The aim of the study was to measure the thickness of the material layer formed during cementing of a ceramic restoration, and - in the second part of the study - to test tension of these cements. The materials investigated comprised dual-curing materials: Variolink II, KoNroot Cem, KoNroot Cem Viscous and Panavia F 2.0, as well as a light-curing composite: Variolink Veneer. The thickness was measured with the use of ZIP Lite 250 optical gauging apparatus. SEM microscope - Hitachi Tabletop Microscope TM-100 - was used to analyse the characteristics of an adhesive bond and filler particle size of particular materials. Tension tests of the cements under study were carried out on the MTS Q Test 10 static electrodynamic apparatus. The tests showed that KoNroot Cem exhibited the best mechanical properties of bonding to enamel and dentin among the materials tested. Variolink II base light-curing cement formed the thinnest layer. All the materials tested formed the layer not exceeding 1/3 of ceramic restoration thickness.