Abstract
BackgroundSecondary caries are considered the main cause of dental restoration failure. In this context, anti-biofilm and bactericidal properties are desired in dental materials against pathogens such as Streptococcus mutans. To this purpose, graphene based materials can be used as fillers of polymer dental adhesives. In this work, we investigated the possibility to use as filler of dental adhesives, graphene nanoplatelets (GNP), a non toxic hydrophobic nanomaterial with antimicrobial and anti-biofilm properties.ResultsGraphene nanoplatelets have been produced starting from graphite intercalated compounds through a process consisting of thermal expansion and liquid exfoliation. Then, a dental adhesive filled with GNPs at different volume fractions has been produced through a solvent evaporation method. The rheological properties of the new experimental adhesives have been assessed experimentally. The adhesive properties have been tested using microtensile bond strength measurements (µ-TBS). Biocidal activity has been studied using the colony forming units count (CFU) method. The anti-biofilm properties have been demonstrated through FE-SEM imaging of the biofilm development after 3 and 24 h of growth.ConclusionsA significantly lower vitality of S. mutans cells has been demonstrated when in contact with the GNP filled dental adhesives. Biofilm growth on adhesive-covered dentine tissues demonstrated anti-adhesion properties of the produced materials. µ-TBS results demonstrated no significant difference in µ-TBS between the experimental and the control adhesive. The rheology tests highlighted the necessity to avoid low shear rate regimes during adhesive processing and application in clinical protocol, and confirmed that the adhesive containing the 0.2%wt of GNPs possess mechanical properties comparable with the ones of the control adhesive.
Highlights
Secondary caries are considered the main cause of dental restoration failure
FE‐SEM and rheology measurements analysis field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) analysis demonstrated a good integration between graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) and polymer in the produced experimental adhesive
In order to analyse the effects of substrate porosity on the GNPs distribution over the adhesive surface, a FE-SEM analysis has been performed on the produced adhesives spotted, spread and polymerized on the three substrates having different porosities, as described above
Summary
Secondary caries are considered the main cause of dental restoration failure In this context, antibiofilm and bactericidal properties are desired in dental materials against pathogens such as Streptococcus mutans. Antibiofilm and bactericidal properties are desired in dental materials against pathogens such as Streptococcus mutans To this purpose, graphene based materials can be used as fillers of polymer dental adhesives. Materials used in this type of restoration are bonded to the teeth hard tissues via adhesives, enabling a non-invasive caries removal approach [1]. Despite these positive aspects, the use of polymeric composites maintain some main drawbacks such as polymerization shrinkage and high. Its disruption can occur only by macro-mechanical removal (i.e. tooth brushing) or by using drugs able to digest the biofilm matrix [7]
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