Abstract
Caries at the interface of dental materials and mineralized tooth structure continues to be a significant issue in oral healthcare. A new approach to fight tooth decay incorporates microcapsules into dental materials that release remineralizing agents. The objective of this study was to study the effect that microcapsules have on the flexural strength of pit and fissure sealant formulations. Pit and fissure sealants that contained microcapsules were incorporated into formulations at 5 w/w% of microcapsules (2 w/w% of 5.0 M Ca(NO3)2; 2 w/w% of 0.8 M NaF; 1 w/w% of 3.0 M K2HPO4) were added to pit and fissure sealant formulations. In this study, bisGMA, UDMA and UMMA were explored as the toughening monomers. TEGMA was always the diluent monomer. The ratio of “toughening monomer:diluent monomer” was explored over a range of 4:1 through 1:1. Barium boroaluminosilicate glass was loaded over a range of 3-60 w/w%, fumed silica was loaded over a range of 0.1-3.0 w/w%. The potential number of formulations exploring these variables is substantial. Therefore, a range of formulations was tested that explored these formulation variables. These four variables were simultaneously varied in order to gain a better understanding of the role of these ingredients in the presence of microcapsules on flexural strength. The flexural strength was looked at as a function of each variable individually, and then as a function of multiple variables.