Surface Roughness Evaluation of Different Polishing Techniques on Dental Porcelains By Atomic Force Microscopy

Introduction: This study was conducted to find out different polishing techniques’ effects on different porcelain materials by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Material and Methods: Samples were made from four different porcelain materials (VMK 95, Ceramco III, Matchmaker, Vitablocs Mark II). Nine groups (n = 5) were randomly formed from the samples of each ceramic and nine different polishing methods were applied on them. AFM was used to evaluate the external topography and roughness of dental porcelains. To analyze the results of the study ANOVA and Tukey test were used statistically ( = 0.05). Results: Within the porcelain groups Ceramco and Matchmaker had higher Ra values, however VMK 95 and Mark II had lower Ra values. However when the different polishing techniques were compared, Gl (.1110) and SlPg (.2295) were found to have the lowest Ra values and no statistical differences were found between these two techniques (p > .05). In addition, no differences were found between glazed samples (Gl) and after polishing with Sof-lex and Prisma Gloss (Sl-Pg). On the other hand polishing with Sl and Pg together (Sl-Pg) significantly decreases the surface area. Conclusions: There were statistically significance between the glazed and the other specimens. Different polishing methods influenced the surface topography of different porcelains significantly ( p < .001).