Erosive Effect of Acidic Beverages On Dental Filling Materials Surface (In Vitro Study)

Abstract

Erosive tooth wear, that is characterized like irreversible loss of hard dental tissues due to influence of external and internal acids of nonbacterial origin, is one of the most common damage of a tooth surface. Erosive factors also affect the surface of dental reconstruction materials that ideally should be resistant against them. Dental filling materials designed for this purpose must be able to withstand these effects in a comparable or even better way than enamel. In our in vitro study we investigated using the nanoindentation the hardness of currently available dental filling materials (dental composite resin, self curing and dual cures glassionomer cement, dental amalgam) before and after erosive attacks (exposure to Coca Cola for 5 min and 14 days) and consequently compare it with them of human dental enamel. Furtermore we analised the surface topography of the samples before and after acidic exposure by confocal laser scanning microscope. In our experiments the filling materials were affected by the acidic environment only minimally in comparison with hard dental tissues. We confirmed the fact that dental amalgam is still the most mechanically and chemically resistant filling material. Both GIC materials showed the worst resistance against acidic conditions and higher surface roughness even before exposure. We also declared excellent withstanding of resin composite materials against acidic conditions that was even better than natural enamel. Furthermore by CLSM was detected almost unaltered surface of these filling materials. This fact as well as adhesive properties of resin composites allow to assume that this material could be the most suitable material for dental erosion reconstruction.