Abstract:
Silane coupling agents are synthetic hybrid inorganic-organic compounds that act as adhesion promoters which chemically unify dissimilar materials. Nowadays, many brands of silane coupling agent are commercially available in the market. Each brand formulate differently from one another providing the dentists various options to choose from. The aims of this study was to investigate the effect of treating the lithium disilicate glass ceramic surface with various types of silane coupling agents in term of bonding capability and wettability. The experiment was divided into two parts.
The first part of the research was to evaluate the effect of various type of silane coupling agent on the shear bond strength between lithium disilicate glass ceramic and resin cement. Three commercial dental silanes and one experimental silane were used, in vitro, to promote the bonding of resin cement to lithium disilicate glass ceramic surfaces.
The second part of the research was to investigate the effect of treating the hydrofluoric acid-etched/unetched lithium disilicate surface with various types of silane coupling agents on the contact angle measurement between lithium disilicate glass ceramic surface and deionized water. The silane coupling agents used were the same as those in the first part of the study.
The results of this study showed that the type of silane coupling agent used significantly influence the bond strength between lithium disilicate and resin cement and that application of silane coupling agents significantly reduced the wettability of deionized water on the silane-coated surface. The type of silane coupling agent selected significantly influenced the wettability of deionized water. Etching the surface with hydrofluoric acid prior to silane application significantly increased surface wettability in all treatment groups except for groups that were treated with resin-containing silane coupling agent.
