An in vitro evaluation of the zirconia surface treatment by mesoporous zirconia coating on its bonding to resin cement.

The effect of zirconia surface treatment by mesoporous zirconia coating on the microtensile bond strength (MTBS) between zirconia and resin cement was investigated in this work. 160 zirconia specimens were prepared and divided into four groups according to surface treatments: (1) airborne-particle-abrasion treatment (APA); (2) glass infiltration and hydrofluoric acid treatment (GI+HF); (3) mesoporous zirconia coating (MZ); and (4) no treatment (C). The as-prepared zirconia specimens were bonded using Panavia F2.0 and RelyX Unicem. The MTBS values were tested using a universal testing machine, and data were analyzed using ANOVA and SNK methods (a=0.05). The MTBS values obtained after GI+HF and MZ treatments were significantly higher than those obtained after APA and C treatments (P<0.05), especially for samples cemented with Panavia F2.0. The results reveal that zirconia surface treatments using GI+HF and MZ yield higher bond strength than those using APA or C, regardless of the resin cements.