Reduced wear of enamel with novel fine and nano-scale leucite glass-ceramics

Objectives: Leucite glass-ceramics used to produce all-ceramic restorations can suffer from brittle fracture and wear the opposing teeth. High strength and fine crystal sized leucite glass-ceramics have recently been reported. The objective of this study is to investigate whether fine and nano-scale leucite glass-ceramics with minimal matrix microcracking are associated with a reduction in in vitro tooth wear. Methods: Human molar cusps (n = 12) were wear tested using a Bionix-858 testing machine (300,000 simulated masticatory cycles) against experimental fine crystal sized (FS), nano-scale crystal sized (NS) leucite glass-ceramics and a commercial leucite glass-ceramic (Ceramco-3, Dentsply, USA). Wear was imaged using Secondary Electron Imaging (SEI) and quantified using white-light profilometry. Results: Both experimental groups were found to produce significantly (p <0.05) less volume and mean-height tooth loss compared to Ceramco-3. The NS group had significantly (p <0.05) less tooth mean-height loss and less combined (tooth and ceramic) loss than the FS group. Increased waviness and damage was observed on the wear surfaces of the Ceramco-3 glass-ceramic disc/tooth group in comparison to the experimental groups. This was also indicated by higher surface roughness values for the Ceramco-3 glass-ceramic disc/tooth group. Conclusions: Fine and nano-sized leucite glass-ceramics produced a reduction in in vitro tooth wear. The high strength low wear materials of this study may help address the many problems associated with tooth enamel wear and restoration failure. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.