MARGINAL FIDELITY AND FRACTURE STRENGTH OF IPS EMPRESS CERAMIC CROWNS ACCORDING TO DIFFERENT CEMENT TYPES

There has been increasing use of IPS Empress $2^{(R)}$ owing to easy fabrication method, high esthetics similar to natural teeth, good marginal accuracy, and sufficient fracture strength. However, in clinical application, although a luting agent and the tooth cementation bonding procedure influence the marginal accuracy and fracture strength restoration, there has been a controversy in the selection of proper luting agent. This study was to measure the marginal fidelites and fracture strength of IPS Empress crowns according to three cement types, Protec $cem^{(R)}$, Variolink $II^{(R)}$ and Panavia $21^{(R)}$. After construction of 12 experimental dies for each group, IPS Empress $2^{(R)}$ crowns were fabricated and luted the metal master die prepartion of the maxillary right premolar. Marginal gaps before cementation and after cementation were measured. Buccal incline on the functional cusp of specimens were loaded until the catastrophic failure and fracture strength was measured. The results of this study were as follows: 1. The range of gap was $34.04{\pm}4.84{\mu}m$ before cementation and $37.88{\pm}5.00{\mu}m$ after cementation, which showed significant difference by paired t-test (p<0.05). The difference in the results from marginal accuracy according to measuring point proved to be not statistically significant by two-way ANOVA test (p>0.05). 2. The difference in the results from marginal accuracy according to three cement types Proved that The Variolink $II^{(R)}$ cement group had the least gap, $35.43{\pm}5.03{\mu}m$, and showed superior marginal accuracy while there existed statistic significance in Protec $cem^{(R)}$ cement group, $39.06{\pm}4.41{\mu}m$ or Panavia $21^{(R)}$ cement group, $39.16{\pm}4.39{\mu}m$ by two-way ANOVA test & multiple range test (p<0.05). 3. The difference in the results from fractures strength testing according to three cement type groups proved to be statistically significant (p<0.05). The Variolink $II^{(R)}$ cement group shows highest fracture strength of $1257.33{\pm}226.77N$, Panavia $21^{(R)}$ cement group has $1098.08{\pm}138.45N$, and Protec $cem^{(R)}$ cement group represents the lowest fracture strength of $926.75{\pm}115.75N$. 4. Three different cement groups of different components showed acceptable marginal fidelity and fracture strength. It is concluded that IPS Empress $2^{(R)}$ crowns luted using Variolink $II^{(R)}$ cement group had stronger fracture strength and smaller marginal gap than the other cement groups. Although Variolink $II^{(R)}$ resin cement seemed acceptable to clinical applications in IPS Empress $2^{(R)}$ system, the IPS Empress $2^{(R)}$ system still requires long-term research due to the lack of data in clinical applications.