Background: As polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a relatively new material in dentistry, its bonding properties with regard to dental acrylic base materials are not fully known. To ensure the long-term success of removable dentures with a PEEK framework, the base materials must be well bonded to each other.
Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the effects of different kinds of surface roughening treatment on PEEK and acrylic resin bonding.
Material and methods: Eighty PEEK specimens (N = 80) were randomly divided into 5 groups (n = 16 per group) and subjected to various surface roughening treatment (control, grinding, sandblasting, tribochemical silica coating (CoJet), and sulfuric acid etching). Heat-polymerized acrylic resin was applied to the treated surfaces of the PEEK specimens. The shear bond strength (SBS) test, environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) analysis and three-dimensional (3D) surface topography analysis were performed. The statistical analysis of the data was conducted using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's multiple comparison test.
Results: The one-way ANOVA showed significant differences in the SBS values between the groups (p = 0.001). Sandblasting, tribochemical silica coating and sulfuric acid etching resulted in high SBS values (p = 0.001). The highest SBS values were observed in the sulfuric acid etching group (8.83 ±3.63 MPa), while the lowest SBS values were observed in the control group (3.33 ±2.50 MPa).
Conclusions: The additional roughening treatment applied to the PEEK surface increases the bond strength with heat-polymerized acrylic resin.
Keywords: CoJet; polyether ether ketone; sandblasting; sulfuric acid; surface morphology.