In vitro evaluation of the effects of different periodontal tools and mechanical instrumentation on tooth restoration interface

The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effects of periodontal instrumentation on surface roughness and surface characteristics on an in vitro interface model including a tooth, ceramic and resin cement surface. 100 blocks were obtained by cementing 100 dentin specimens made from bovine incisors (4x4x9mm) to the reciprocating pressed ceramic specimens (4x4x9mm) produced by the lost wax technique by using a dual cure resin cement. Two specimens were cemented to form blocks and polished after cementation. Blocks were randomly divided into 5 groups and instrumented with 5 different tools: titanium nitride coated curette (TiN), ultrasonic scaler (US), the linear oscillating device (LOD), an air polisher with the supra nozzle using ≈65μm powder (AP-S) and a subgingival nozzle using ≈30μm powder (AP-P). At the end of each preparation step and periodontal instrumentation, profilometric analysis was conducted. The profilometric analysis revealed an increase in the surface roughness (Ra) of dentin, ceramic and resin cement surfaces for all the instrumentation tools (p<0.05), however on the ceramic surface TiN and AP-P did not increase the Ra significantly. The intra-group mean Ra changes of each surface after instrumentations were also compared between the groups. The tools causing the least change respectively on the dentin, ceramic and resin cement surfaces were: TiN; AP-P; TiN, whereas the tools causing the most change respectively; were US; US; AP-S. Also, an additionally prepared block representing each step of the experiment was evaluated under the scanning electron microscope (SEM). SEM findings were found compatible with profilometric results.