Effects of femtosecond laser and other surface treatments on the bond strength of metallic and ceramic orthodontic brackets to zirconia.

Femtosecond laser has been proposed as a method for conditioning zirconia surfaces to boost bond strength. However, metallic or ceramic bracket bonding to femtosecond lasertreated zirconia surfaces has not been tested. This study compared the effects of four conditioning techniques, including femtosecond laser irradiation, on shear bond strength (SBS) of metallic and ceramic brackets to zirconia.Three hundred zirconia plates were divided into five groups: 1) control (C); 2) sandblasting (APA); 3) silica coating and silane (SC); 4) femtosecond laser (FS); 5) sandblasting followed by femtosecond laser (APA+SC). A thermal imaging camera measured temperature changes in the zirconia during irrad…