Mechanical behavior of nano-hybrid composite in comparison to lithium disilicate as posterior cement-retained implant-supported crowns restoring different abutments.

Objective: Resin-based materials are gaining popularity in implant dentistry due to their shock absorption capacity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the fracture strength and failure mode of resilient materials for both crowns and abutments and compare them to the most widely used materials in different combinations after subjection to long-term fatigue loading.

Methods: Forty-eight cement-retained implant-restorations were assembled on titanium implants. Identical custom-made CAD/CAM abutments were milled out of 3 different materials (n = 16); T: titanium, Z: zirconia and P: ceramic-reinforced PEEK. Each group was subdivided, according to the restorative crown material, into two subgroups (n = 8); C: nano-hybrid composite and L: Lithium disilicate. Specimens were subjected to dynamic load of 98 N for 1,200,000 cycles with integrated thermal cycling. The surviving specimens were subjected to quasi-static loading until failure. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test for normality. One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post-hoc test was used to detect statistically significant differences between groups.

Results: All specimens withstood 1,200,000 load cycles. The fracture strength values varied from a minimum of 1639 ± 205 N for group PL to a maximum of 2949 ± 478 N for group ZL.

Significance: The abutment material influenced the fracture strength and failure mode of the restoration. A combination of zirconia abutments and nano-hybrid composite showed the most favorable mode of failure within the test groups. Therefore, this combination might be recommended as an alternative for restoring single implants in the posterior area.