Toughening of CAD/CAM all-ceramic crowns by staining slurry.

The ability of staining slurries containing silver and/or potassium compounds to enhance the mechanical properties of a leucite-reinforced glass ceramic (IPS Empress CAD) was investigated by measuring the Vickers hardness, median crack length, toughness, and compressive residual stress of specimens. A staining slurry containing potassium ions was found to increase the toughness of IPS specimens more than a staining slurry containing only silver ions when applied prior to sintering. None of the staining slurries produced any color changes. Thus, the results obtained in this study demonstrate that staining slurries increase the Vickers hardness and the fracture toughness of the surface and subsurface regions of all-ceramic IPS blocks fabricated by a CAD/CAM system without sacrificing their aesthetics.