Effect of polishing instruments and polishing regimens on surface topography and phase transformation of monolithic zirconia: An evaluation with XPS and XRD analysis

All polishing methods, except BG, exhibited a peak shift towards the lower angles of the 2-theta scale. Since the peak shifts were in the order of fractions of an angle they are attributed to stress formation rather than a phase change in the material. Thus, all polishing systems tested may not be detrimental for the phase transformation of MZ. EV system resulted in the highest roughness and none of the polishing regimens restored the polishability to the baseline level.