Effect of Different Surface Treatments on Retention of Cement-Retained, Implant-Supported Crowns

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of different treatments applied to titanium implant abutment surfaces on the retention of implant-supported cement-retained crowns using resin cement.

Materials and methods: A total of 72 titanium implant abutments were divided into six groups (n = 12 each) based on the selected surface treatments: (1) untreated; (2) airborne particle abrasion; (3) hydrogen peroxide etching; (4) atmospheric plasma; (5) chemical mechanical polishing; and (6) titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nano coating. After the surface treatments, scanning electron microscopy analyses and surface roughness measurements of the abutment surfaces were performed. Seventy-two metal copings were fabricated and cemented on the abutments with dual-curing resin cement. After a thermal cycling process, crown retention was measured using a universal testing machine. The experimental results were statistically evaluated with one-way analysis of variance, Tukey honest significant difference, and Tamhane's T2 tests.

Results: The highest surface roughness values were obtained with the airborne-particle abrasion group (1.44 μm), which also resulted in the highest retention values (828.5 N), followed by the hydrogen peroxide-etching group (490.7 N), the atmospheric plasma group (466.5 N), the chemical mechanical polishing group (410.8 N), and the control group (382.6 N).

Conclusion: It was determined that airborne particle abrasion, hydrogen peroxide etching, and atmospheric plasma treatments significantly increased the crown retention and that all alternative treatments, except for TiO₂ nano coating, worked better than the untreated control.