Comparison of lab polishing protocol of zirconia and titanium

Zirconia has undoubtly became most preferred material to be used as implant abutment or copings for crown and bridges. Clinical situation demands adjustment in the implant abutment surfaces, crowns and copings for the better fit of prosthesis. Readjustment or recontouring creates a rougher surface with inferior surface qualities which can lead to bacterial and plaque accumulation thereby compromising the success of the prosthesis. To save patients and clinicians precious time, a customised polishing protocol for the polishing of zirconia is required which can give the desired surface smoothness to prevent bacterial adhesion and at the same time allows adhesion of soft tissue to prevent attachment loss. Hence, this study was undertaken to compare the efficacy of customised polishing protocol on the surface roughness of zirconia to that of lab polished zirconia and machine polished titanium abutments.