Influence of internal-gap width and cement type on the retentive force of zirconia copings in pullout testing

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of internal-gap width and cement type on the retentive force of zirconia copings. Methods: A CAD/CAM system was used to mill 48 identical abutments on extracted human molars and fabricate 48 zirconia copings. The internal-gap width for cement was set to 40 μm or 160 μm (n = 24 each). Three cement types (Panavia F, RelyX Unicem, and RelyX Luting) were used with each internal-gap width (n = 8/cement type). The intaglio surfaces of the copings were airborne-particle abraded, and each coping was cemented onto the corresponding abutment using the indicated luting agent. After 10,000 cycles of thermocycling, the retentive force was evaluated by pullout tests. Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests were used for data analysis (α = 0.05). Results: In the 40-μm gap groups, Panavia F had the highest mean retentive force compared to RelyX Unicem and RelyX Luting (P < 0.000). In 160-μm gap groups, RelyX Unicem had the highest mean retentive force compared to Panavia F and RelyX Luting (P < 0.000). Conclusions: With the increase in internal gap width, a resin cement with self-etching agents as a co-initiator for autopolymerization resulted in significantly decreased retentive force, whereas a resin-modified glass ionomer cement or a self-adhesive resin cement did not. Use of resin cements rather than resin-modified glass ionomer cements improved the retentive force of zirconia copings regardless of the amount of internal gap width.