ZrO2 ceramics are one of the most important materials used in dental prostheses production, due to their excellent mechanical resistance and chemical inertness in the mouth environment. Nevertheless, the combination of low pHs and fluoride presence is able to reduce the chemical stability of these ceramics. In this work, the resistance of commercial blocks of micrometric and nanometric sized Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 ceramics (ProtMat Materiais Avançados® and Ivoclar®) was evaluated in Fusayama artificial saliva of different pHs with (and without) the presence of fluoride ions. The study was based on the analysis of the amount of Zr4+ and Y3+ ions dissolved in the artificial saliva after different exposure times using ICP OES technique. The XRD technique was also employed to investigate the phase transformations occurring during the degradation process in artificial saliva. The micrometric sized ZrO2 ceramics presented higher resistance in the artificial saliva than nanometric sized structures.
A considerable increase in the ceramic products demand occurred due to the evolution of dental restoration techniques and these materials must resist to the complex mouth environment. The pH of saliva can decrease significantly due to the ingestion of acidic foods and beverages and mainly due to reactions occurring during bacteria metabolism that lead to the formation of organic acids. Fluorides are also present in the mouth since fluorides are usually added in drinking water, mouth washes, tooth pastes and gels for the prevention of plaque and caries formation. The combination of low pH and presence of fluorides can lead to the formation of HF and HF2- which are detrimental to metallic and probably to ceramic devices. In this work, commercial blocks of ZrO2 ceramics (ProtMat Materiais Avançados® and Ivoclar®) were immersed in Fusayama artificial saliva of different pHs and fluoride concentrations. The properties of the as-produced ceramics (crystalline phases (XRD), microstructure (SEM), roughness (3D surface topography AFM) and mechanical resistance – Vickers hardness (Hv) and fracture toughness (KIC) were evaluated. Some of these properties were also determined after the immersion tests as well as the mass variation of the samples in order to evaluate the resistance of these ZrO2 ceramics to degradation under these conditions.
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