Fracture strength of teeth restored with milled ultrathin occlusal veneers made of polymer-infiltrated ceramic.

The purpose was to evaluate, in vitro, the fracture strength of teeth restored with 0.3- or 0.6-mm-thick occlusal veneers made of Vita Enamic(R) bonded to enamel or dentin. Fifty third molars were allocated into five groups (n=10): Group C - control (sound teeth); Group 0.3E - 0.3-mm-thick occlusal veneers bonded to enamel; Group 0.6E - 0.6-mm-thick occlusal veneers bonded to enamel; Group 0.3D - 0.3-mm-thick occlusal veneers bonded to dentin; Group 0.6D - 0.6-mm-thick occlusal veneers bonded to dentin. After luting with Single Bond Universal and Filtek Z-100, the samples were subjected to fracture strength test in a universal testing machine. The fractures were classified as irreparable and reparable. Data were analyzed with 2-way and 1-way ANOVA (alpha=.05) followed by Tukey's test. The teeth restored with 0.3-mm-thick occlusal veneers (2658 N) achieved significantly higher fracture strength compared to the teeth restored with 0.6-mm-thick occlusal veneers (2070 N) (p=0.017). The teeth restored with occlusal veneers bonded to enamel (2648 N) had significantly higher fracture strength compared to the teeth restored with occlusal veneers bonded to dentin (2049 N) (p=0.015). Group C (3355 N) and Group 0.3E (2965 N) did not differ significantly from each other, being the fracture strength significantly higher than the other groups (p<0.05). The fractures were predominantly reparable. The teeth restored with 0.3-mm-thick occlusal veneers achieved higher fracture strength compared to the teeth restored with 0.6-mm-thick occlusal veneers. The supporting substrate influenced the fracture strength, which was higher for the teeth restored with occlusal veneers bonded to enamel.