INTRODUCTIONCommercially pure titanium(cpTi)and its alloys are frequently used for dental prosthetic devices 1) . When they are used to restore anterior teeth, titanium prostheses are generally covered with an esthetic material, such as a composite resin. To obtain good retention between the metal core and resin, retention beads are generally cast on the metal surface to promote mechanical retention -and this form of mechanical retention has the highest survival rate in clinical prostheses 2) . However, a non-mechanical retention method for the metal core is preferred to minimize the removal of sound enamel and dentin when preparing the tooth for cementation. Furthermore, a machining method -versus casting -was developed recently for the fabrication of titanium prostheses. Consequently, there arose an intense, two-pronged effort to develop a new adhesive system that would deliver improved adhesion with the titanium substrate produced by machining. The two key approaches were: focus on the development of adhesion-promoting monomers 3,4) , as well as explore pretreatment methods that would modify the substrate surface for optimal adhesion 5-7) . In the quest for an optimal pretreatment method for titanium, the authors have examined supercritical water 8) and alkaline 9) treatments. Both treatments significantly increased the bond strength of treated titanium to veneering resins.Essentially, these treatments depend on the roughened, tough oxide texture on the surface of treated titanium. However, it was reported 10) that after thermal cycling, the bonding strength decreased remarkably such that the bonding durability was no longer considered sufficient for long-term restorations. On the other hand, the authors have also reported that etching in concentrated H 2 SO 4 at 40 to 90 ℃ produced a highly roughened surface on cpTi and Ti-6Al-4V alloy 11,12) . Therefore, acid etching might be an alternative, effective pretreatment for titanium for the purpose of promoting better bonding to veneering resins.However, acid etching of Ti-6Al-4V alloy provides only adequate dry strength with reportedly poor durability
13). In this study, therefore, we examined whether etching in concentrated acid enhanced the bond strength durability between cpTi and veneering resin. To this end, we measured the bond strength of acid-etched cpTi to veneering resins before and after thermal cycling, and then discussed the possibility of using acid etching as a pretreatment method for dental restoratives comprising titanium substrate and veneering composite resins.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Substrate metalCpTi plates (KS-50, JIS type 2, Kobelco, Kobe, Japan) were used as the substrate. Metal plates measuring 20 × 15 × 1 mm were sandblasted (Hi-Blaster II, Shofu, Kyoto, Japan)with alumina powder(70μm) , cleaned in distilled water supersonically, and dried in air at room temperature.
Acid etchingCpTi plates were etched using 11 treatments involving differences in the acid solution (18% HCl, 43% H 3 PO 4 , and 4.8 and 48% H 2 SO 4 ) , soak...