Plasma-related technologies are essential in modern industries. Recently, plasma has attracted increased attention in the biomedical field. This paper provides a basic knowledge of plasma and a narrative review of plasma applications in dentistry. To review plasma applications in dentistry, an electronic search in PubMed, SCOPUS and Google scholar up to December 2012 was done. This was followed by extensive hand searching using reference lists from relevant articles. There have been attempts to apply plasma technology in various fields of dentistry including surface modifications of dental implants, adhesion, caries treatment, endodontic treatment and tooth bleaching. Although many studies were in early stages, the potential value of plasma for dental applications has been demonstrated. To enlarge the scope of plasma applications and put relevant research to practical use, interdisciplinary research with participation of dental professionals is required.

SUMMARY: This study evaluated the effects of single-bottle, multipurpose, universal adhesives on the bond strength of resin cement to zirconia ceramic. Polished zirconia ceramic (Cercon base) discs were randomly divided into four groups (n=40) according to the applied surface-conditioning agent: Single Bond 2, Single Bond Universal, All-Bond Universal, and Alloy Primer. Cured composite cylinders (Ø 0.8 mm × 1 mm) were cemented to the conditioned zirconia specimens with resin cement (RelyX ARC). The bonded specimens were subjected to a microshear bond-strength test after 24 hours of water storage and after 10,000 cycles of thermocycling. The surface-conditioning agent significantly influenced the bond strength (p<0.05). Single Bond Universal showed the highest initial bond strength (37.7 ± 5.1 MPa), followed by All-Bond Universal (31.3 ± 5.6 MPa), Alloy Primer (26.9 ± 5.1 MPa), and Single Bond 2 (8.5 ± 4.6 MPa). Artificial aging significantly reduced the bond strengths of all the test groups (p<0.05). After 10,000 cycles of thermocycling, All-Bond Universal showed the highest bond-strength value (26.9 ± 6.4 MPa). Regardless of artificial aging, Single Bond Universal and All-Bond Universal showed significantly higher bond strengths than Alloy Primer, a conventional metal primer.

This study investigated the influence of preparation design on the marginal and internal gap and ceramic thickness of partial ceramic crowns (PCCs) fabricated with the CEREC 3 system. Sixteen extracted human mandibular molars were prepared according to two different preparation designs (n = 8): a retentive preparation design with traditional cusp capping (Group I) and a non-retentive preparation design with horizontal reduction of cusps (Group II). PCCs were fabricated from IPS Empress CAD with the CEREC 3 system. The parameters for luting space and minimum occlusal ceramic thickness were set to 30 μm and 1.5 mm, respectively. The fabricated PCCs were cemented to their corresponding teeth with self-adhesive resin cement and were then scanned by micro-computed tomography. The marginal and internal gaps were measured at pre-determined measuring points in five bucco-lingual and three mesio-distal cross-sectional images. The ceramic thicknesses of the PCCs were measured at the measuring points for cusp capping areas. Group II (167.4 ± 76.4 μm) had a smaller overall mean gap, which included the marginal and internal gap measurements, than that of Group I (184.8 ± 89.0 μm). The internal gaps were larger than the marginal gaps, regardless of preparation design. Group I presented a thinner ceramic thickness in the cusp capping areas than the minimum occlusal ceramic thickness parameter of 1.5 mm. CONCLUSION. Preparation design had an influence on fit, particularly the internal gap of the PCCs. Ceramic thickness could be thinner than the minimum ceramic thickness parameter.