Conditioning of PEEK Implant Abutment Surfaces Using Photodynamic Therapy, Nd:YAG Laser, and Conventional Methods to Evaluate Shear Bond Strength.

This study was done to evaluate shear bond strength (SBS) and modes of failures after different surface treatment modalities on polyetheretherketone (PEEK) implant abutments. Seventy-five PEEK implant abutment specimens were randomly distributed into five groups based on surface treatment methods: Group I: No treatment, Group II: methylene blue-mediated photodynamic therapy (MB-PDT), Group III: neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser, Group IV: Sulfuric acid (HSO), and Group V: Sandblasting (Sb). The measurements for SBS and failure modes for PEEK implant abutment specimens were evaluated via Universal Testing Machine and Stereomicroscope, respectively. Two-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post-hoc test ( > 0.05) were used for the statistical analysis. Moreover, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test was also performed for normality. The SBS mean values and standard deviations in megapascals (MPa) for PEEK abutment specimens with different surface pretreatment groups are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 1. The control group had the lowest SBS (9.67 ± 2.1 MPa), while the highest SBS was observed in Group II (MB-PDT; 17.21 ± 1.32 MPa). SBS values for Group IV (HSO; 15.83 ± 0.63 MPa) and Group III (Nd:YAG laser; 16.91 ± 2.10 MPa) were similar to Group II (MB-PDT;  > 0.05). The SBS values for the sandblasted specimens (13.90 ± 1.87 MPa) were not significantly different from the control group ( > 0.05). The PEEK implant abutment surfaces treated with MB-PDT and Nd:YAG laser expressed significantly improved SBS.