Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro performance of endodontic sealers in their freshly mixed and set forms. Methods: The commercially used endodontic sealers (AH Plus, Dia-ProSeal, GuttaFlow 2, and Pulpdent Root Canal Sealer) were investigated and the chemical structure of freshly mixed and set sealers were assessed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The surface morphology and elemental analysis were assessed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The pH and solubility analysis were performed and the cytotoxicity was done on extracts of freshly mixed and set materials using Alamar blue assay. One way ANOVA and Post Hoc Tukey analysis was used to do multiple comparison analysis of the mean values and standard deviation results through SPSS version 20 (IBM Software, NY, USA) for pH, solubility, and cytotoxicity analysis. Results: FTIR analysis revealed the structural pattern and the difference in freshly mixed and set samples was observed with the change in intensities of the peaks. The morphological pattern revealed the presence of micro/nano-particles with pores distributed throughout their structure. The sealer with the least solubility was AH Plus (0.10±0.01) followed by Dia-ProSeal (0.77±0.25), GuttaFlow 2 (1.88±0.82) and Pulpdent Root Canal Sealer (3.03±0.18). The solubility of AH plus was significantly lower (P<0.05) in comparison to GuttaFlow 2 and Pulpdent Root Canal Sealer. The highest pH (10.09±0.034) in the freshly mixed state and highest cytotoxicity in the freshly mixed (70.08±5.852) and set sealers (83.87±5.409) (P<0.05) at day 7 was observed in Dia-ProSeal. GuttaFlow 2 was the most biocompatible sealer in the set state and AH Plus was the most biocompatible sealer in the freshly mixed state at day 7. Conclusion: Clinically, the sealer is applied in fresh state, whereby this study signifies that which material is more biocompatible in fresh state and provides insight information to clinicians. AH Plus showed least solubility and cytocompatibility in fresh state compared to other groups.

Aim: The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of chicken egg shell powder solution (CESP) on the dental erosion produced by Coca Cola drink in permanent teeth. Material and methods: Thirty extracted human incisors were collected for this study purpose. After extraction all the specimens were cleaned and sectioned longitudinally resulting in 60 samples from a total of 30 tooth samples. All samples were randomly assigned to the following three groups. Group 1: Untreated group, Group 2: Demineralization by soft cola drink (4 cycles of 2 minutes' immersion at 6 hours' interval), Group 3: Demineralization by soft cola drink (4 cycles of 2 minutes' immersion at 6 hours' interval) followed by 7 days' immersion in CESP. For surface roughness assessment images were taken from AFM. The root means square roughness (Rrms) was calculated from the AFM images. The differences in the mean roughness values between the three groups were analyzed by Anova and Tukey's post hoc test. Results: One way Anova analysis revealed a statistically significant differences with p-value of 0.00, between the mean roughness values of three groups. Tuckey's post hoc test revealed that there is a statistically significant difference (0.158±0.012) between the surface roughness of Group 2 and Group 3 as well as between Group 1 and Group 3(0.085±0.012) with a p-value of 0.00, indicating that following treatment by CESP the mean roughness values decreased significantly. Conclusion: CESP reduces the surface roughness of all treated teeth samples giving encorughment to the protective effect of CESP againts erosive enamel loss.

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This project was carried out to identify the least corrosive mouthwash when Nickel Titanium (NiTi) wires are employed in the oral environment for longer periods during the orthodontic treatment. METHODOLOGY: Corrosion of NiTi archwires was investigated in different mouthwashes and artificial saliva. Artificial saliva was taken as a standard medium. A potentiodynamic test was performed using Gamry's potentiostat. This type of test comprises of a corrosion cell containing immersion medium, in which sample wire was dipped. A specified voltage was applied to complete electrochemical cell. Corrosion rate was calculated utilizing the Tafel equation through a software 'Echem analyst'. One-way ANOVA was conducted to compare the mean corrosion rates of wires immersed in different media. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) was used to analyze the surface characteristics of NiTi wires after the corrosion testing. RESULTS: NiTi wires tested in mouthwash containing HCl in 0.15% w/v of Benzydamine Hydrochloride (Enziclor TM) produced greatest corrosion (16.2300+4.405 MPY). While Dexapanthenol + permethol containing mouthwash (Hi-Paraent TM) showed minimum corrosion of the NiTi wires. The rate of corrosion was found to be insignificant in artificial saliva, the control medium. CONCLUSIONS: Research concludes that mouthwashes which contain dexapanthenol + permethol (e.g, Hi-Paradent TM) are the safest most among those containing chlorhexidine gluconate + benzydamine hydrochloride(e.g, Enziclore TM) and sodium monofluorophosphate (e.g, Secure TM) in terms of corrosion of NiTi wires .

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the influence of three local anesthetic dental formulations manufactured in France (Septodont), Korea (Medicaine) and Pakistan (HD-Caine) in terms of cytotoxicity and anti-bacterial activities. METHODOLOGY: 90 commercially available local anesthetic cartridges of similar composition (2% lidocaine with epinephrine 100,000) viz. Septodont, Medicaine and HD-Caine were randomly collected from three different Pakistani cities and were assigned as Group S, Group M and Group H, respectively. The cartridges were further divided into three sub-groups each consisting of 10 cartridges to first evaluate cytotoxicity on Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) using a flow cytometer and secondly to investigate anti-bacterial activity by measuring zones of inhibition and through Broth Dilution Method against five bacterial strains. RESULTS: The results indicated that Septodont (94.5±0.1) and Medicaine (94.7±0.0) showed the highest viability percentage with no significant difference when the two were compared (P=0.6). HD-Caine (93.9±0.0) showed the least, being significantly (P<0.01) different from Septodont and Medicane. A statistically significant (P<0.05) difference was identified between the three study groups regarding the anti-bacterial activity. HD-Caine showed the highest anti-bacterial potential, followed by Medicaine and Septodont. CONCLUSION: Mild toxicity was observed by all the three groups in human MSCs, justifying their safe use in clinical practice. Additionally, Medicane and HD-Caine showed significant anti-bacterial activity indicating their possible use as sterile irrigants. KEYWORDS: Dental anesthesia, Lidocaine, Epinephrine, Antibacterial activity HOW TO CITE: Imran E, Moeen F, Satti H, Rahman L. Investigating the cytotoxic and anti-bacterial activity of commercially available local anesthetics: An in-vitro analysis. J Pak Dent Assoc 2020;29(4):185-192.