Purpose: To determine whether zirconia abutments with an internal connection exhibit similar fracture load as zirconia abutments with an external connection.
Materials and methods: The following zirconia abutments were divided into four groups of 20 each: StraumannCARES abutments on Straumann implants (group A), Procera abutments on Branemark implants (group B), Procera abutments on NobelReplace implants (group C), and Zirabut SynOcta prototype abutments on Straumann implants (group D). The abutments were fixed on their respective implants either internally via a secondary abutment (A) or a metallic coupling (C) (two-piece) or directly externally (B) and internally (D) (one-piece). In each group, 10 abutments were left unrestored (A1 to D1). Ten received glass-ceramic crowns (A2 to D2). Static loading was performed according to the ISO norm 14801 until failure. The bending moment was calculated for comparison of the groups and subjected to statistical analysis (Student t test).
Results: The mean bending moments of the unrestored abutments were 371.5 +/- 142.3 Ncm (A1), 276.5 +/- 47.6 Ncm (B1), 434.9 +/- 124.8 Ncm (C1), and 182.5 +/- 136.5 Ncm (D1). Two-piece internally connected abutments exhibited higher bending moments than one-piece internally (C1 versus D1 P = .003, A1 versus D1 P = .03) or externally (C1 versus B1 P = .004) connected abutments. The groups with restorations did not show different bending moments than those without restorations. The mean bending moments of the restored abutments were 283.3 +/- 44.8 Ncm (A2), 291.5 +/- 31.7 Ncm (B2), 351.5 +/- 58 Ncm (C2), and 184.3 +/- 77.7 Ncm (D2). Group C2 exhibited the highest bending moment (P < .05). Internally connected one-piece abutments (D2) were weaker than all other groups (D2 versus A2 P = .002; D2 versus B2 P = .001; D2 versus C2 P = .0003).
Conclusions: The type of connection significantly influenced the strength of zirconia abutments. Superior strength was achieved by means of internal connection via a secondary metallic component.