Purpose: To measure the microshear bond strengths (μSBS) of composite resin to the intaglio surface of prefabricated indirect veneers and analyze the FE-SEM ultramorphology of the pretreated intaglio surfaces as well as the fracture modes.
Materials and methods: Three veneer systems (veneer and respective luting material) were used in this study: two prefabricated veneer types, Cerinate One-hour (CER, DenMat) and Componeer (CMP, Coltene), and a laboratory- made veneer, IPS e.max Press (IPS, Ivoclar Vivadent) used as the control. For each group, 10 veneers were used. After delimitation of the bonding area with a double-faced adhesive tape, 0.8-mm-diameter cylinders of composite luting material were bonded to the pretreated intaglio surface. After polymerization, the specimens were fractured in shear mode using the wire-loop method in a universal testing machine. The pretreated intaglio surface of two extra veneers and four fractured specimens per group were morphologically characterized using FE-SEM.
Results: CER resulted in statistically lower mean μSBS (7.1 ± 1.2 MPa) than the other two veneer systems, CMP (15.2 ± 2.5 MPa) and IPS (14.7 ± 1.7 MPa) at p < 0.0001. As seen with the FE-SEM, the intaglio surface of CMP did not display microretentive features, while multiple microretentions were observed in both CER and IPS after HF etching.
Conclusion: Within the limitations of this in vitro study, the CMP and IPS veneer systems resulted in greater bond strengths than those of the CER veneer system.