Two-body wear behavior of human enamel versus monolithic zirconia, lithium disilicate, ceramometal and composite resin

PURPOSE. To investigate and compare the surface roughness (SR), weight and height of monolithic zirconia (MZ), ceramometal (CM), lithium disilicate glass ceramic (ID), composite resin (CR), and their antagonistic human teeth enamel. MATERIALS AND METHODS. 32 disc shaped specimens for the four test materials (n=8) and 32 premolars were prepared and randomly divided. SR, weight and height of the materials and the antagonist enamel were recorded before and after subjecting the specimens to 240,000 wear-cycles (49 N/0.8 Hz/5 degrees C/50 degrees C). SR, height, weight, and digital microscopic qualitative evaluation were measured. RESULTS. CM (0.23 + 0.08 mu m) and LD (0.68 + 0.16 mu m) exhibited the least and highest mean difference in the SR, respectively. ANOVA revealed significance (P=.001) between the materials for the SR. Paired T-Test showed significance (P<.05) for the pre- and post- SR for all the materials. For the antagonistic enamel, no significance (P=.987) was found between the groups. However, the pre- and post- SR values of all the enamel groups were significant (P<.05). Wear cycles had significant effect on enamel weight loss against all the materials (P<.05). CR and MZ showed the lowest and highest height loss of 0.14 mm and 0.46 mm, respectively. CONCLUSION. MZ and CM are more resistant to SR against the enamel than LD and CR. Enamel worn against test materials showed similar SR. Significant variations in SR values for the tested materials (MZ, LD, CM, and CR) against the enamel were found. Wear simulation significantly affected the enamel weight loss against all the materials, and enamel antagonist against MZ and CM showed more height loss.