Walid Sadig, BDS, MS ,
Hamdi Mohammed-AI Tahawi, DDS, MScD, PhD
 King Saud University, College of Dentistry, P.O. Box 60169, Riyadh 11545,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Various materials and techniques are used for refinishing ground dental porcelain. Most of the final polishing materials are diamond pastes and are quite expensive. Industrial glass manufacturers use inexpensive polishing materials to attain essentially the same degree of polish as porcelain. One such industrial polish was compared to auto glazing, liquid glazing and two polishing techniques as to rendering ground dental porcelain smooth. Twenty-five specimens were made from Vita porcelain and autoglazed. One group of five specimens was left as is. The other twenty specimens were ground to remove the glaze layer then were divided into four groups of five specimens each. One group was liquid glazed. Two groups were refinished and polished using a dental porcelain adjustment system with and without polishing paste. The last group was refinished but polished with an industrial glass polishing paste. Roughness of the specimen surfaces were determined by using a surface roughness microanalyzer. Specimens from each group were examined under the SEM. Statistical analysis showed that the industrial glass polish produced a surface as smooth as the autoglazed surface and as two of the porcelain polishing techniques. Liquid glazing produced a surface significantly more rough than the other four treatments.

Saudi Dental Journal 1995;7(1):2-6.