Cement-retained
restorations on dental implants are a well-established
method to replace missing teeth. However, undetected residual cement
left during crown cementation procedures encourages microorganism
growth, and it has been identified as a risk factor for peri-implant
disease. Currently, there is no official guidance for dental cement
selection, and the increasing variety of available compositions intensifies
the complexity of the clinicians’ decision process. The present
study aimed to evaluate the in vitro host and bacterial cellular response
to four different commercial dental cements as well as their effects
on cement surface morphology. Disk specimens (n =
3) of bioceramic, zinc phosphate, resin-modified glass ionomer, and
resin cements were exposed to host (murine pre-osteoblasts, human
gingival fibroblasts, and undifferentiated human macrophages) and
oral bacterial (Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus sanguinis, and Aggregatibacter
actinomycetemcomitans) cells. Results indicated that
oral bacteria degraded the cement surface, but bacterial viability
was not significantly affected by the presence of dental cement. Conversely,
the biocompatibility and morphology of host cells were severely impacted
by the cement composition. Only the bioceramic cement achieved >70%
viability for all cell lines investigated. Within the limitations
of this study, the results indicated the importance of considering
the biological interactions of a dental cement composition during
selection as it played a significant role in the host cellular response
and the degree of surface degradation due to bacterial attack.