Purpose: To evaluate the effect of different treatments applied to titanium implant abutment surfaces on the retention of implant-supported crowns retained using resin cement.
Materials and Methods: A total of 72 titanium implant abutments were divided into six groups (n = 12 each) based on the selected surface treatment: (1) untreated; (2) sandblasted; (3) hydrogen peroxide–etched; (4) atmospheric plasma; (5) chemical mechanical polishing; and (6) titanium dioxide nanocoating. After the surface treatments, scanning electron microscopy analyses and roughness measurements of the abutment surfaces were performed. Then, 72 metal copings were fabricated and cemented onto the abutments with dual-curing resin cement. After the thermocycling process, crown retention was measured by using a universal testing machine. The experimental results were statistically evaluated with one-way analysis of variance, Tukey honest significant difference, and Tamhane T2 tests.
Results: The highest surface roughness values were obtained in the sandblasted group (1.44 um), which also showed in the highest retention values (828.5 N), followed by the hydrogen peroxide etching group (490.7 N), the atmospheric plasma group (466.5 N), the chemical mechanical polishing group (410.8 N), and the control group (382.6 N).
Conclusion: Sandblasting, hydrogen peroxide, etching, and atmospheric plasma treatments significantly increased crown retention, and all alternative treatments, with the exception of TiO2 nanocoating, worked better than the control samples.
