Investigation of the effect of different surface treatments for preventing detachment of polyetheretherketone and titanium attachment matrix housings in overdentures: An in vitro study.

Aim: The attachment matrix housing (AMH) of implant overdentures is not chemically bonded with acrylic resins. Therefore, AMH may lose due to insertion and removal forces. This study aims to investigate the effects of different surface treatments to reduce the detachment of AMH and to compare the adhesion of the AMH used in implant-supported overdentures made of different materials with the reline acrylic resin.

Materials and methods: Titanium and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) AMHs were separated into four surface treatment groups; no treatment, airborne-particle abrasion (APA) applied, universal bond (UB) applicated, APA, and UB applicated. Eight millimeters in diameter and ten millimeters tall straws were used to restrain the reline acrylic resin prepared according to the manufacturer's instructions and the resin was injected onto the surface-treated AMH. After the polymerization was completed, the universal testing machine performed the tensile bond strength (TBS) test with a fishing line passed through the acrylic resins.

Statistical analysis used: TBS data were analyzed with two and one-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD post hoc tests (α =0.05).

Results: According to the two-way ANOVA results, titanium AMHs (103.78 ± 45.98 N) showed higher TBS than PEEK AMHs (67.81 ± 28.61 N). UB applicated titanium groups showed significantly increased TBS values.

Conclusions: Using titanium AMHs may be a better choice in situations where clinical aesthetic expectations are unimportant for adhesion to reline acrylic resins. The UB resin significantly increased the bonding of the titanium AMHs with reline resins. The application of UB resin to titanium housings can be easily applied in a clinical situation and can reduce the detachment of the titanium AMHs.