The effect of different surface pretreatments on the bond strength of veneering resin to polyetheretherketone

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different surface pretreatment methods on the bond strength of veneering resin to polyetheretherketone (PEEK) based aesthetic frameworks. Five hundred and forty PEEK disks were fabricated and divided into 6 pretreatment groups (n = 90); (C) untreated control group, (B) airborne-particle abrasion, (S) silica coating, (L) etching with Er:YAG (erbium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet) laser, (LB) etching with Er:YAG laser and airborne-particle abrasion and (LS) etching with Er:YAG laser and silica coating. After topographical surface examinations, specimens were conditioned with adhesive and veneering resin was polymerized onto the PEEK specimens. Twenty-four hours after veneering, specimens were subjected to thermal aging. Afterwards, shear bond strength (SBS) tests were performed and the obtained data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA and Tukey test at a significance level of α = .05. Group B (1.58 ± 0.15 μm), Group L (1.79 ± 0.29 μm), Group LB (2.20 ± 0.23 μm) and Group LS (2.31 ± 0.52 μm) demonstrated significantly higher surface roughness (SR) values compared to Group C (1.03 ± 0.11 μm). Group B (10.97 ± 2.88 MPa), Group S (12.07 ± 2.82 MPa), Group LB (12.09 ± 2.08 MPa) and Group LS (13.14 ± 1.45 MPa) demonstrated significantly higher SBS values compared to Group C (6.35 ± 1.21 MPa). Airborne-particle abrasion, silica coating or their combined use with Er:YAG laser system establish durable bond between PEEK and resin; however, only Er:YAG laser treatment has no positive effect on resin-PEEK bond.