Surface Microhardness of Different Ceramic Materials Used for Esthetic Full-Ceramic Veneers

Abstract

The study examines the microhardness of five ceramic materials using CAD-CAM technology. Twenty-five disc-shaped specimens for the study, using I.P.S. Empress CAD (fully sintered), I.P.S. e.max CAD (30 minutes) and Vita Suprinity (26 minutes) milled in a pre-crystallized stage, Coprasmile (8 hours), and Zenostar milled in partially sintered stage (9 hours and 50 minutes). Each specimen had ten indentations, with a 1000-gram load applied for 10 seconds using a Vickers diamond indenter. Vickers values were automatically converted to microhardness using the formula Hv = 1.8544×F/d2. IBM SPSS 26 for statistical analysis, calculating microhardness values for each group. One-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD posthoc test compared differences between ceramic groups at a P <0.05 significance level. Results showed significant differences among the means (P <0.05), with Coprasmile, Zenostar, and Suprinity groups having the highest and lowest values, respectively.