Flexural Strength of New All-Ceramic Core Material

Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare the biaxial flexural strength of the new all-ceramic material Turkom-Cera compared to two other all-ceramic systems. Methods: Three groups of 10 disc specimens (16 mm diameter x 1.2mm thickness — in accordance with ISO-6872, 1995) were made from the following ceramic materials: Turkom-Cera Fused Alumina (Turkom-Ceramic (M) Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur Malaysia), In-Ceram (Vita Zahnfabrik, Bad Sackingen, Germany) and Vitadur-N (Vita Zahnfabrik, Bad Sackingen, Germany), which were sintered according to manufacturer's recommendations. All specimens were subjected to biaxial flexural strength test using the Instron Universal Testing Machine at a cross-head speed of 0.5 mm/min. The definitive fracture load was recorded for each specimen and the biaxial flexural strength was calculated from an equation in accordance with ISO-6872. Results: The data were statistically analyzed via Dunnett's T3 post-hoc test (p<0.05). The mean biaxial flexural strengths were: Turkom-Cera (506.8±87.01 MPa), In-Ceram (347.4±28.83 MPa) and Vitadur-N (128.7±12.72 MPa). There was statistically significant difference between the three core ceramics. Turkom-Cera showed the highest biaxial flexural strength, whereas Vitadur-N the lowest and In-Ceram in between. Conclusion: The results of this study are important to both dentists and technicians in order to select the most appropriate all-ceramic system. Turkom-Cera core has significantly higher flexural strength than In-Ceram and Vitadur-N ceramic core materials.

This study was supported by IPPP; University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Account no: P0197/2006C.