There has been a growing interest in glass ceramic systems with good esthetics, high fracture resistance and bonding durability, and simplified fabrication techniques using CAD/CAM. The aim of this study is to compare flexural strength before and after heat treatment of two lithium disilicate CAD/CAM blocks, IPS e.max CAD (Ivoclar Vivadent) and Rosetta SM (Hass), and to observe their crystalline structures.

Biaxial flexural strength was tested according to ISO 6872 with 20 disc form specimens sliced from each block before and after heat treatment. Also, the crystalline structures were observed using field-emission scanning microscopy (FE-SEM, Hitachi) and x-ray diffraction (XRD, Rigaku) analysis. The mean values of the biaxial flexural strength were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test at a significance level of p = 0.05.

There were no statistically significant differences in flexural strength between IPS e.max CAD and Rosetta SM either before heat treatment or after heat treatment. For both ceramics, the initial flexural strength greatly increased after heat treatment, with significant differences (p < 0.05). The FE-SEM images presented similar patterns of crystalline structure in the two ceramics. In the XRD analysis, they also had similar patterns, presenting high peak positions corresponding to the standard lithium metasilicate and lithium disilicate at each stage of heat treatment.

IPS e.max CAD and Rosetta SM showed no significant differences in flexural strength. They had a similar crystalline pattern and molecular composition.

This study investigated the effects of the color components of light-cured composite resin before and after polymerization on degree of conversion (DC) and biaxial flexural strength (FS).

Four enamel shades (A1, A2, A3, A4) and two dentin shades (A2O, A3O) of Premisa (Kerr Co.) and Denfil (Vericom Co.) were evaluated on their CIE L^*, a^*, b^* color components using the spectrophotometer before curing, after curing and at 7 day. The DC of same specimens were measured with Near-infrared spectrometer (Nexus, Thermo Nicolet Co.) at 2 hr after cure and at 7 day. Finally, the FS was obtained after all the other measurements were completed at 7 day. The correlations between each color component and DC and FS were evaluated.

The light-curing of composite resin resulted in color changes of Premisa in red-blue direction and Denfil in green-blue direction. The DC and FS were affected by product, time and shade (3-way ANOVA, p < 0.05) and product and shade (2-way ANOVA, p < 0.05), respectively. Premisa only showed a significant correlation between the DC and CIE a^* component - before and after polymerization (Pearson product moment correlation, p < 0.05). The FS of Premisa showed significant negative correlations with CIE a^* and CIE b^* components.

The DC and FS of the light-curing composite resin were affected by the color components of the material before and after polymerization.