Comparison of load bearing capacity of ceramic crowns with zirconia or polyetherketoneketone frameworks.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare the load bearing capacity of monolithic or bilayered single crowns with zirconia or polyetherketoneketone frameworks designed and fabricated using CAD/CAM systems.

Materials and methods: Cr-Co-based metal dies (n = 60) were duplicated from an extracted and prepared premolar and then restored with different CAD/CAM materials. The specimens were divided into five groups (n = 12) according to the type of materials: group S: monolithic zirconia-reinforced lithium disilicate; group ZI: bilayered zirconia framework with lithium disilicate; group ZE: bilayered zirconia framework with resin-infiltrated hybrid ceramic; group PI: bilayered polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) framework with lithium disilicate; group PE: bilayered PEKK framework with resin-infiltrated hybrid ceramic. The crown specimens were cemented on Cr-Co metal dies with a resin cement (Multilink N). The specimens were subjected to cyclic mechanical loading followed by load bearing testing. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests (α = 0.05).

Results: The monolithic crowns in group S (1930 ± 452.18 N) presented significantly higher load bearing capacity than those of the other groups (P < 0.05). This was followed by group ZI (1165.41 ± 264.04 N). The remaining groups demonstrated comparable results. Failure types were more frequent in all zirconia specimens that included veneering ceramic.

Conclusions: Monolithic zirconia-reinforced lithium disilicate CAD/CAM ceramics showed superior load bearing capacity compared with all other bilayered counterparts. All CAD/CAM materials tested remarkably exceeded the average occlusal force in the posterior region.