Simple heat treatment of zirconia ceramic pre-treated with silane primer to improve resin bonding

Establishing a strong resin bond to dental zirconia ceramic remains difficult. Previous studies have shown that the conventional application of silane does not work well with zirconia. This paper reports that a silane pre-treatment of dental zirconia ceramic combined with subsequent heat treatment has potential as an adhesive cementation protocol for improving zirconia-resin bonding. Among the various concentrations (0.1 to 16 vol%) of experimental γ-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (γ-MPTS) primers assessed, the 1% solution was found to be the most effective in terms of the shear bond strength of the resin cement to dental zirconia ceramic. A high shear bond strength (approx. 30 MPa) was obtained when zirconia specimens were pre-treated with this primer and then heat-treated in a furnace for 60 min at 150°C. Heat treatment appeared to remove the hydrophilic constituents from the silane film formed on the zirconia ceramic surface and accelerate the condensation reactions between the silanol groups of the hydrolyzed silane molecules at the zirconia/resin interface, finally making a more desirable surface for bonding with resin. This estimation was supported by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of the silanes prepared in this study.