The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of various titanium and zirconia polishing protocols on the colonization of oral bacteria. Titanium and zirconia discs were divided into five groups: unpolished (control, UNP) and polished with Brownie only (BRO), Brownie plus Greenie (BPG), Brownie plus Greenie plus Supergreenie (BGS), and CeraMaster Coarse plus CeraMaster polishing tips (CER). The samples were sterilized and immersed in unstimulated saliva, then incubated in a liquid suspension of Streptococcus gordonii (S gordonii). The number of attached bacteria were counted 48 hours after the diluted suspensions were inoculated. Data were analyzed with ANOVA and Tukey test (P < .05). For titanium discs, the average number of bacteria from each group (CFU/mm²) was 1.51 x 10³ for UNP; 3.71 x 10³ for BRO; 5.65 x 10³ for BPG; 8.99 x 10² for BGS; and 8.49 x 10² for CER. For zirconia, the averages were 2.87 x 10² for UNP; 3.16 x 10² for BRO; 3.50 x 10² for BPG; 1.83 x 10² for BGS; and 8.73 x 10¹ for CER. Inadequate polishing roughens surfaces and promotes microbial adhesion to titanium and zirconia. Sequential polishing to the finest-finish polishing tips minimizes bacterial adherence to abutment surfaces. Zirconia exhibited less bacterial adhesion than titanium.