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. 2025 Oct 14;25(1):1608.
doi: 10.1186/s12903-025-06968-2.

Optimizing resin bonding to saliva-contaminated polyetheretherketone: comparative efficacy of cleaning methods

Zhi-Cen Lu #  1   2 , Meng-Hui Yang #  1 , Wei-Yi Zhong  3 , Ya-Xin Zheng  1 , Guang Hong  4 , Hao Yu  5   6
Affiliations

Optimizing resin bonding to saliva-contaminated polyetheretherketone: comparative efficacy of cleaning methods

Zhi-Cen Lu et al. BMC Oral Health. .

Abstract

Background: This study investigated the effects of saliva contamination and different cleaning protocols on the surface characteristics and bonding performance of polyetheretherketone (PEEK).

Methods: A total of 120 PEEK specimens were divided into six groups: uncontaminated (UN), contaminated without cleaning (S), and contaminated followed by cleaning with Ivoclean (IC), Katana Cleaner (KC), ethanol (ALC), or sandblasting (BLA). Resin composite cylinders were bonded to the specimens, and shear bond strength (SBS) was evaluated before and after 10,000 thermal cycles. Surface properties (water contact angle, roughness) were analyzed.

Results: Saliva contamination significantly reduced SBS (P < 0.05), irrespective of aging. The IC and ALC groups showed significantly lower SBS than the UN group. In contrast, cleaning with KC or BLA effectively restored SBS to levels comparable with uncontaminated PEEK, under both aged and unaged conditions. Adhesive failure was the predominant failure mode. While contamination and cleaning reduced hydrophobicity (lower contact angles), surface roughness remained unchanged across groups.

Conclusions: Salivary contamination impairs PEEK-resin bonding, but sandblasting or Katana Cleaner effectively restores bond strength. These protocols offer clinically viable decontamination strategies for PEEK-based restorations.

Keywords: Aging; Cleaning methods; Polyetheretherketone; Salivary contamination; Shear bond strength.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the School and Hospital of Stomatology, Fujian Medical University (Approval No. 2022-56) and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the Chinese Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects (2016). Unstimulated saliva was collected immediately before application, from one healthy author who had refrained from consuming food and beverages for 1.5 h prior to the collection process [19, 23]. All data were anonymized to protect participant privacy, and the co-author participant was excluded from data analysis to avoid conflicts of interest. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The results of failure mode classification. UN: uncontaminated; S: contaminated without cleaning; IC: contaminated and cleaned with Ivoclean; KC: contaminatedand cleaned with Katana cleaner; ALC: contaminated and cleaned with ethanol; BLA: contaminated and cleaned with sandblasting.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Representative SEM images of the fracture surfaces. A: group UN, uncontaminated, unaged; B: group S, contaminated without cleaning, unaged; C: group IC,contaminated and cleaned with Ivoclean, unaged; D: group KC, contaminated and cleaned withKatana cleaner, unaged; E: group ALC, contaminated and cleaned with ethanol, unaged; F: groupBLA, contaminated and cleaned with sandblasting, unaged; G: group UN, uncontaminated, aged; H: group S, contaminated without cleaning, aged; I: group IC, contaminated and cleaned withIvoclean, aged; J: group KC, contaminated and cleaned with Katana cleaner, aged; K: group ALC,contaminated and cleaned with ethanol, aged; L: group BLA, contaminated and cleaned withsandblasting, aged. The arrows in the images refer to the primer (Visio.link) (500×magnification).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The results of water contact angle (ø) for different cleaning methods. UN: uncontaminated; S: contaminated without cleaning; IC: contaminated and cleaned with Ivoclean; KC: contaminatedand cleaned with Katana cleaner; ALC: contaminated and cleaned with ethanol; BLA: contaminated and cleaned with sandblasting. The same superscript letters indicated that therewere no significant differences observed between the labelled groups (P>0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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