Effect of Titanium Surface Texture on Bonding Strength of Porcelain Fused to Titanium

In the future, titanium is expected to be commonly used as a prosthetic material. For application of titanium in dentistry, the technique to fuse porcelain to titanium is necessary and important because of the large aesthetic demand of the general public. However, the bonding strength of the porcelain system fused to titanium is not clearly confirmed. The purpose of this study was to define the effect of the titanium surface texture on the bonding strength of porcelain for titanium veneering. Two variations of the porcelain system for titanium were investigated, one using a bonding agent and the other using a bonding porcelain. The selected factors of the surface texture were the preparation process of the titanium plate (cut from an ingot, casting, chemically polished after casting), withor without sandblasting and with or without heat treatment for surface oxidation. The porcelain was baked according to the manufacturer's instructions. The bonding strengths of the porcelain fused to titanium were measured by a shear bond test. The bonding strength of the porcelain system with a bonding agent was weak due to the poor strength of the bonding agent itself, however, that with a bonding porcelain increased when the titanium surface was rough.