Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Background: Traditionally, zirconia has been used as a core material for allceramic crowns that are later covered by a more esthetic veneering layer. Recently, new zirconia materials with higher translucency commonly referred to as the “full contour zirconia” have been introduced with the aim to allow dentist to fabricate entire allceramic crown from the material with acceptable esthetic and mechanical functions without the need for veneering. However, there is little information in the literature regarding the translucency of full contour zirconia and the degree of conversion of resin cement underneath the full contour zirconia. Objectives: 1) To investigate the translucency parameter (TP) of recently marketed full contour zirconia and compare that to traditional zirconia and lithium disilicate glass ceramic (LDGC) at different thicknesses. 2) To evaluate the degree of conversion (DC) of the resin cement through different thicknesses of the full contour zirconia, traditional zirconia and LDGC. Alternative hypothesis: The new generation zirconia at the clinically recommended thickness has lower translucency than that of LDGC and higher than that of non-veneered traditional zirconia. In addition, DC of resin cement under full contour zirconia is lower than that of LDGC and higher than that of traditional zirconia. Methods: 150 ceramic specimens (12 x12 mm with thickness of 1-2 mm for LDGC and Zirconia) were divided into 6 groups according to the type of material, as follow: LDGC (IPS e-max CAD), Traditional Zirconia (CAP QZ), full contour zirconia (CAP FZ, Zirlux, Bruxzir, KDZ Bruxer). The TP for materials at various thicknesses were measured by a spectrophotometer (CM-2600D). The DC of the light curing resin cement (Variolink II) underneath the ceramic disks was measured by FTIR. Result: All full contour zirconia has lower translucency parameter and light transmission than LDGC. The translucency parameter decreases with increasing thickness of any type of ceramic. There were no significant differences in the degree of conversion of resin cement among the type of ceramic disc, except Bruxzir. The correlation of TP between various thicknesses and the types of ceramic materials was established by a regression analysis.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The objectives: 1. To compare the flexural strength, flexural modulus, and fracture toughness of specimens fabricated from recently marketed translucent full-contour zirconia, traditional zirconia, and lithium disilicate glass ceramic. 2. To compare the load-to-failure of crowns fabricated from recently marketed translucent full-contour zirconia, traditional zirconia, and lithium disilicate glass ceramic at their recommended tooth-reduction thickness. Methodology: Four groups of translucent zirconia (BruxZir, KDZ Bruxer, CAP FZ, Suntech zirconia), one group of traditional zirconia (CAP QZ) and IPS e.maxCAD) were tested. Twelve bars of each material were made and tested for flexural strength, and fracture toughness. Fracture patterns were imaged under SEM. Forty-eight crowns (8 from each group) were fabricated with CAD/CAM technique following manufacturers’ recommendations for the amount of tooth reduction. All the crowns were cemented to prepared epoxy resin dies with RelyX Unicem and tested for static load to failure in a universal machine. Result: In bar-shape samples, CAP QZ (traditional zirconia) showed the highest flexural strength (788.12 MPa), fracture toughness (6.85 MPa.m1/2), and fracture resistance (2489.8 N). All translucent zirconia groups show lower mechanical properties than QZ. However, there were no differences between translucent and traditional zirconia in the fracture resistance of the crown-shape samples. There was no significant difference in fracture resistance between IPS e.max crowns at recommended thickness and other zirconia crowns at recommended thickness. Conclusion: With less reduction of tooth structure, a high inherent strength and chip resistance make full-zirconia crowns a good alternative to porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns and all other ceramic crowns.