Effects of NanoAg-ACP Microparticles as Bioactive Fillers on the Mechanical and Remineralization Properties of Dental Resin Cement

Purpose: To investigate the potential of adding silver-nanoparticle-containing amorphous calcium phosphate microparticles as bioactive fillers into commercially available nonbioactive dental resin cement.

Materials and methods: Experimental cement was formulated by adding 7.5% silver-nanoparticle-containing amorphous calcium phosphate microparticles to Multilink Automix resin cement (Ivoclar Vivadent). The experimental cement was evaluated for shear bond strength (N = 11 per group) and demineralization/remineralization (N = 16 per group), with BioCem^® Universal BioActive cement (NuSmile) as the positive control and Multilink Automix cement as the negative control. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc tests were used to assess the significance of differences among or between the groups RESULTS: The addition of silver-nanoparticle-containing amorphous calcium phosphate microparticles at the level of 7.5% by weight into Multilink Automix did not have a statistically significant effect on the shear bond strength (p > 0.05), but statistically significantly increased the depth of remineralization on both dentin and enamel (p = 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively) when compared to Multilink Automix alone. The experimental cement prepared in the present study was comparable to BioCem^® on the depths of remineralization on both dentin and enamel (p = 0.59 and p = 0.99, respectively).

Conclusion: When incorporated into nonbioactive commercial dental resin cements as bioactive fillers at the level of 7.5% by weight, silver-nanoparticle-containing amorphous calcium phosphate microparticles could provide remineralization potential without affecting the shear bond strength.