Effect of Er,Cr:YSGG surface treatment of fiber post on surface roughness and morphology compared with other surface treatment modalities

Objective: To evaluate and compare the influence of fiber post surface treatments (Er,Cr:YSGG laser sandblasting, and 9% hydrofluoric acid ) on  surface roughness and morphology. Materials and Methods: A total of sixty fiber posts were used in this study. They were randomly divided into 4 groups according to surface treatment method into: Group I: control (no pretreatment), Group II: sandblasting (Al2O3), Group III: etch 9% hydroflouric acid etching  , Group IV: Er,Cr:YSGG laser  iradiation (2790 nm) .Group IV was further subdivided according to laser power to; subgroup A: 0.5W, subgroup B: 1W, subgroup C: 1.5W. Surface roughness (Ra) of the posts before and after surface treatment was measured using surface profilometer. The posts were examined under SEM for assessment of surface morphology. One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc test was used to compare between more than two groups in non-related samples. Results: There was statistical significant difference in the Ra value between the control group and all the tested groups (p<0.001). Sandblasting showed the highest significant mean Ra value while hydrofluoric acid had the lowest significant values. Conclusion: All the tested surface treatments method increased the surface roughness, and changed the surface morphology of the tested fiber posts