Effects of alumina-blasting and adhesive primers on bonding between resin luting agent and zirconia ceramics

This study evaluated the effect of alumina-blasting and three commercial adhesive primers on the shear bond strength of a dual-cured resin luting agent to zirconia ceramics. Two different-sized zirconia ceramic specimens were treated with or without alumina-blasting and then treated with one of three adhesive primers. Subsequently, specimens were cemented together with Linkmax HV (GC). Half of the specimens were stored in water at 37 degrees C for 24 hours and the other half thermocycled 10,000 times before shear bond strength testing. For groups treated with either alumina-blasting or primer, shear bond strength significantly decreased after thermal cycling. For groups treated with both alumina-blasting and one of the three primers, there were no significant differences in shear bond strength before and after thermal cycling (p < 0.05). It was thus concluded that the application of each of the three adhesive primers following alumina-blasting was effective for strong bonding of resin luting agent to zirconia ceramics.