The Effect of CAD/CAM Crown Material and Cement Type on Retention to Implant Abutments

Purpose: To evaluate the pullout resistance of CAD/CAM implant-supported crowns cemented with provisional and definitive cements on Ti-base implant abutments. Materials and Methods: Sixty crowns were milled for use in Ti-base implant abutments and divided (n = 15/group) according to material, as follows: (a) [Pr] Temporary acrylic resin; (b) [Co-Cr] Cobalt-Chromium alloy; (c) [Zr] polycrystalline zirconia; and (d) [Ti] titanium. The cementation was performed with RelyX Temp NE (RxT) cement or RelyX U200 self-etching resin cement, under a 50 N (5 kg) load for 10 minutes. Twenty-four hours after cementation, the crowns were subjected to the pullout test in a universal test machine, at a 1.0 mm/min crosshead speed. The tests were performed first without cement to evaluate frictional resistance (Baseline), then with provisional cement (RelyX Temp NE without cement again (Baseline After RxT), and finally with resin cement (U200). The results were analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey test (p < 0.05). Results: Data evaluation as a function of cement type demonstrated the superiority of resin-based cements relative to provisional and baseline groups (p < 0.01). While Co-Cr crowns presented the highest pullout strength values, Pr showed the lowest values (data collapsed over cement) (p < 0.001). Retentiveness data as a function of both factors demonstrated similar pullout resistance between groups without cement (p < 0.001), except Zr baseline. Also, Co-Cr presented higher pullout strength compared to other materials. Conclusions: Self-adhesive resin cement exhibited superior retention compared to temporary cement, regardless of crown material. Co-Cr and titanium presented higher levels of retention to Ti-base abutment after being cemented.