The influence of alkali metal chlorides on the loss of water from glass-ionomer dental cements

The water loss behaviour of a clinical glass-ionomer dental cement has been studied with and without the addition of alkali metal chlorides. Dehydrating conditions were provided by placing specimens in a desiccator over concentrated sulphuric acid. Cements were prepared using either pure water or an aqueous solution of metal chloride (LiCl, NaCl, KCl) at 1.0 mol/dm(3). In addition, NaCl at 0.5 mol/dm(3) was also used to fabricate cements. Disc-shaped specimens of size 6 mm diameter x 2 mm thickness were made, six performulation, and cured at 37 degrees C for 1 hour They were then exposed to desiccating conditions, and the mass measured at regular intervals. All formulations were found to lose water in a diffusion process that equilibrated after approximately 3 weeks. Diffusion coefficients ranged from 2.27 (0.13) x 10(9) with no additive to 1.85 (0.07) x 10(9) m(2)/s with 1.0 mol/dm(3) KCl. For the salts, diffusion coefficients decreased in the order LiCl > NaCl > KCl. There was no statistically significant difference between the diffusion coefficients for 1.0 and 0.5 mol/dm(3) NaCl. For all salts at 1.0 mol/dm(3) and also additive-free cements, equilibrium losses were, with statistical limits, the same, ranging from 6.23 to 6.34%. On the other hand, 0.5 mol/dm(3) NaCl lost significantly more water 7.05%.

Review paper: role of aluminum in glass-ionomer dental cements and its biological effects

The role of aluminum in glass-ionomers and resin-modified glass-ionomers for dentistry is reviewed. Aluminum is included in the glass component of these materials in the form of Al(2)O(3) to confer basicity on the glass and enable the glass to take part in the acid-base setting reactions. Results of studies of these reactions by FTIR and magic-angle spinning (MAS)-NMR spectroscopy are reported and the role of aluminum is discussed in detail. Aluminum has been shown to be present in the glasses in predominantly 4-coordination, as well as 5- and 6-coordination, and during setting a proportion of this is converted to 6-coordinate species within the matrix of the cement. Despite this, mature cements may contain detectable amounts of both 4- and 5-coordinate aluminum. Aluminum has been found to be leached from glass-ionomer cements, with greater amounts being released under acidic conditions. It may be associated with fluoride, with which it is known to complex strongly. Aluminum that enters the body via the gastro-intestinal tract is mainly excreted, and only about 1% ingested aluminum crosses the gut wall. Calculation shows that, if a glass-ionomer filling dissolved completely over 5 years, it would add only an extra 0.5% of the recommended maximum intake of aluminum to an adult patient. This leads to the conclusion that the release of aluminum from either type of glass-ionomer cement in the mouth poses a negligible health hazard.

The biocompatibility of resin-modified glass-ionomer cements for dentistry

OBJECTIVES: The biological effects of resin-modified glass-ionomer cements as used in clinical dentistry are described, and the literature reviewed on this topic. METHODS: Information on resin-modified glass-ionomers and on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), the most damaging substance released by these materials, has been collected from over 50 published papers. These were mainly identified through Scopus. RESULTS: HEMA is known to be released from these materials and has a variety of damaging biological properties, ranging from pulpal inflammation to allergic contact dermatitis. These are therefore potential hazards from resin-modified glass-ionomers. However, clinical results with these materials that have been reported to date are generally positive. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Resin-modified glass-ionomers cannot be considered biocompatible to nearly the same extent as conventional glass-ionomers. Care needs to be taken with regard to their use in dentistry and, in particular, dental personnel may be at risk from adverse effects such as contact dermatitis and other immunological responses.

Kinetic studies of water uptake and loss in glass-ionomer cements

The water sorption and desorption behaviour of three commercial glass-ionomer cements used in clinical dentistry have been studied in detail. Cured specimens of each material were found to show slight but variable water uptake in high humidity conditions, but steady loss in desiccating ones. This water loss was found to follow Fick's law for the first 4-5 h. Diffusion coefficients at 22 degrees C were: Chemflex 1.34 x 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1), Fuji IX 5.87 x 10(-7) cm(2) s(-1), Aquacem 3.08 x 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1). At 7 degrees C they were: Chemflex 8.90 x 10(-7) cm(2) s(-1), Fuji IX 5.04 x 10(-7) cm(2) s(-1), Aquacem 2.88 x 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1). Activation energies for water loss were determined from the Arrhenius equation and were found to be Chemflex 161.8 J mol(-1), Fuji IX 101.3 J mol(-1), Aquacem 47.1 J mol(-1). Such low values show that water transport requires less energy in these cements than in resin-modified glass-ionomers. Fick's law plots were found not to pass through the origin. This implies that, in each case, there is a small water loss that does not involve diffusion. This was concluded to be water at the surface of the specimens, and was termed "superficial water". As such, it represents a fraction of the previously identified unbound (loose) water. Superficial water levels were: Chemflex 0.56%, Fuji IX 0.23%, Aquacem 0.87%. Equilibrium mass loss values were shown to be unaffected by temperature, and allowed ratios of bound:unbound water to be determined for all three cements. These showed wide variation, ranging from 1:5.26 for Chemflex to 1:1.25 for Fuji IX.

The kinetics of water loss from zinc phosphate and zinc polycarboxylate dental cements

The water desorption behaviour of three different zinc oxide dental cements (two polycarboxylates, one phosphate) has been studied in detail. Disc-shaped specimens of each material were prepared and allowed to lose water by being subjected to a low humidity desiccating atmosphere over concentrated sulfuric acid. In all three cements, water loss was found to follow Fick's second law for at least 6 h (until M(t)/M(infinity) values were around 0.5), with diffusion coefficients ranging from 6.03 x 10(-8 )cm(2 )s(-1) (for the zinc phosphate) to 2.056 x 10(-7 )cm(2 )s(-1) (for one of the zinc polycarboxylates, Poly F Plus). Equilibration times for desorption were of the order of 8 weeks, and equilibrium water losses ranged from 7.1% for zinc phosphate to 16.9% and 17.4% for the two zinc polycarboxylates.

The interaction of zinc oxide-based dental cements with aqueous solutions of potassium fluoride

The ability of zinc oxide-based dental cements (zinc phosphate and zinc polycarboxylate) to take up fluoride from aqueous solution has been studied. Only zinc phosphate cement was found to take up any measurable fluoride after 5 h exposure to the solutions. The zinc oxide filler of the zinc phosphate also failed to take up fluoride from solution. The key interaction for this uptake was thus shown to involve the phosphate groups of the set cement. However, whether this took the form of phosphate/fluoride exchange, or the formation of oxyfluoro-phosphate groups was not clear. Fluoride uptake followed radicaltime kinetics for about 2 h in some cases, but was generally better modelled by the Elovich equation, dq(t)/dt = alpha exp(-beta q(t)). Values for alpha varied from 3.80 to 2.48 x 10(4), and for beta from 7.19 x 10(-3) to 0.1946, though only beta showed any sort of trend, becoming smaller with increasing fluoride concentration. Fluoride was released from the zinc phosphate cements in processes that were diffusion based up to M(t)/M(infinity) of about 0.4. No further release occurred when specimens were placed in fresh volumes of deionised water. Only a fraction of the fluoride taken up was re-released, demonstrating that most of the fluoride taken up becomes irreversibly bound within the cement.

Shear bond strengths of glass-ionomer cements to sound and to prepared carious dentine

The aim of this study was determine whether bonding of glass-ionomer cements to non-carious dentine differed from that to carious dentine. Five commercial cements were used, namely Fuji IX GP, Fuji IX capsulated, Fuji IX Fast capsulated (all GC, Japan), Ketac-Molar and Ketac-Molar Aplicap (both 3M-ESPE, Germany). Following conditioning of the substrate with 10% poly (acrylic acid) for 10 s, sets of 10 samples of the cements were bonded to prepared teeth that had been removed for orthodontic reasons. The teeth used had either sound dentine or sclerotic dentine. Shear bond strengths were determined following 24 h storage. For the auto-mixed cements, shear bond strength to sound dentine was found not to differ statistically from shear bond strength to sclerotic dentine whereas for hand-mixed cements, shear bond to sound dentine was found to be higher than to carious dentine (to at least p < 0.05). This shows that the chemical effects arising from interactions of glass-ionomer cements with the mineral phase of the tooth are the most important in developing strong bonds, at least in the shorter term.

Kinetic studies of the effect of varnish on water loss by glass-ionomer cements

OBJECTIVES: This paper reports a study of the water loss behaviour of two commercial glass-ionomer cements coated with varnishes. METHODS: For each cement (Fuji IX Fast or Chemflex), specimens (6mmdiameterx2mm depth) were prepared and cured for 10min at 37 degrees C. They were exposed to a desiccating environment over H(2)SO(4) either uncoated or coated with the appropriate varnish (Fuji Varnish, a solvent-based lacquer, or Fuji Coat, a light-cured varnish). Four specimens were prepared for each material. They were weighed at hourly intervals for 6h, daily for up to 5 days, then weekly thereafter until equilibration. RESULTS: Unlike the uncoated specimens, water loss from varnished cements was not Fickian, but followed the form: mass loss=A/t+B, where t is time, A and B are constants specific to each cement/varnish combination. A varied from 1.22 to 1.30 (mean 1.26, standard deviation 0.04), whereas B varied from 1.54 to 2.09 (mean -1.83, standard deviation 0.29). At equilibrium, varnished specimens lost much less water than unvarnished ones (p>0.01) but there was no significant difference between the solvent-based and the light-cured varnishes. SIGNIFICANCE: Varnishes protect immature glass-ionomer cements from drying out by altering the mechanism of water loss. This slows the rate of drying but does not necessarily change the total amount of water retained. It confirms that, in clinical use, glass-ionomer restoratives should be varnished to allow them to mature satisfactorily.

Water transport in zinc oxy-chloride cements

The water uptake and water loss behaviour in three different formulations of zinc oxy-chloride cement have been studied in detail. Specimens of each material were subjected to a high humidity atmosphere (93% RH) over saturated aqueous sodium sulfate, and a low humidity desiccating atmosphere over concentrated sulfuric acid. In high humidity, the cement formulated from the nominal 75% ZnCl2 solutions gained mass, eventually becoming too sticky to weigh further. The specimens at 25% and 50% ZnCl2 by contrast lost mass by a diffusion process, though by 1 week the 50% cement had stated to gain mass and was also too sticky to weigh. In low humidity, all three cements lost mass, again by a diffusion process. Both water gain and water loss followed Fick's law for a considerable time. In the case of water loss under desiccating conditions, this corresponded to values of Mt/MĄ well above 0.5. However, plots did not go through the origin, showing that there was an induction period before true diffusion began. Diffusion coefficients varied from 1.56 x 10-5 (75% ZnCl2) to 2.75 x 10-5 cm2/s (50% ZnCl2), and appeared to be influenced not simply by composition. The drying of the 25% and 50% ZnCl2 cements in high humidity conditions occurred at a much lower rate, with a value of D of 2.5 x 10-8 cm2/s for the 25% ZnCl2 cement. This cement was found to equilibrate slowly, but total water loss did not differ significantly from that of the cements stored under desiccating conditions. Equilibration times for water loss in desiccating conditions were of the order of 2-4 hours, depending on ZnCl2 content; equilibrium water losses were respectively 28.8 [25% ZnCl2], 16.2 [50%] and 12.4 [75%] which followed the order of ZnCl2 content. It is concluded that the water transport processes are strongly influenced by the ZnCl2 content of the cement.