Bioactive materials subjected to thermal and erosive aging

Abstract

The focus on treating carious lesions has evolved alongside the development of dental biomaterials, allowing for less invasive approaches. This study aimed to compare the flexural strength (FS), microhardness (MH), sorption (S) and solubility (Sol) of Alcasites with bioactive materials subjected to erosion and thermocycling. Evaluated materials: ALC-Alkasite (Cention N), RMGIC-Resin-modified glass ionomer cement (Riva LC), BRC-Bioactive composite resin (Beautifill II), and RC-Conventional resin (Z100). 24 bars for FS, 24 discs for MH, and 8 discs for S and Sol were constructed, subdivided (n=8) according to aging: C-control, TC-thermocycling, and DE-erosive challenge. FS (MPa) was obtained using a universal testing machine (Compression, V = 1 mm/min), MH with a microhardness tester (Vickers, 200g, 20 sec.), and S and Sol by the weight difference before and after immersion in water (mg). Data were evaluated using ANOVA, followed by Tukey (α=0.05). TC reduced FS values for all tested materials, while DE only reduced them for CIVMR and RC. CIVMR showed low FS values under all conditions. For MH, ALC and CIVMR had similar initial values, while BRC had intermediate values and RC had the highest. TC and DE only reduced the hardness values of BRC and RC. For S, ALC had lower values than RC, and in Sol, CIVMR had the highest values. The reduction in properties after aging was material depended.