Polish After Toothbrushing of a New CAD/CAM Block Material

Objectives:   Determine the polish after toothbrushing abrasion of a new resin nanoceramic CAD/CAM material, 3M™ ESPE™ Lava™ Ultimate CAD/CAM Restorative  (LVU), compared with commercially available indirect and direct materials.  LVU contains about 79wt% nanoceramic particles that reinforce a highly crosslinked polymeric matrix. 

Methods:   Plates of each material (n=5) were initially polished to a high gloss then subjected to toothbrushing abrasion with a popular over-the-counter dentifrice under a 450g load at 180-200 strokes/min for 6000 cycles.  Gloss (60º geometry) was measured using a Novo-Curve Glossmeter (Rhopoint Instruments). 

Results:   Mean gloss and standard deviation after 6000 cycles of toothbrushing are shown in the table.  Letters in the column "SND" denote groups that are statistically not different after 6000 cycles of toothbrushing via ANOVA with Tukey's t-test (p<0.05).

 

Material	Code	Mfr	Gloss (std dev) @ 6000 cycles	SND gloss @ 6000 cycles
Lava Ultimate CAD/CAM Restorative	LVU	3M ESPE	85.6 (2.3)	A
IPS e.max® CAD	e.max	Ivoclar	87.3 (6.5)	A
IPS Empress® CAD	EMP	Ivoclar	89.7 (0.4)	A
VITABLOCS® Mark II Block	VM2	Vita	81.5 (2.4)	A
GC InitialTM MC Porcelain	IMC	GC	81.9 (1.2)	A
ParadigmTM MZ100 Block	MZ	3M ESPE	52.7 (16.2)	B
Esthet-X® Micro Matrix Restorative	ESX	Dentsply	42.2 (11.4)	B
Tetric EvoCeram® Filling Material	TEC	Ivoclar	23.6 (3.3)	C

Conclusions:   The gloss of LVU after toothbrushing was statistically not different from that of glass ceramic materials e.max, EMP, VM2 and porcelain IMC and was statistically greater than that of composite materials MZ, ESX and TEC.  These results show that the nanoceramic filler technology in LVU allows the material to retain its polish similar to glass ceramics and superior to direct composites.