Nanoparticle-reinforced resin-based dental composites

Abstact 

Objective

TiO₂ nanoparticles treated with the organosilane allyltriethoxysilane (ATES) are used to improve the mechanical properties of dental resin-based composites (RBCs, Z100, 3M ESPE).

Methods

TiO₂ nanoparticles were sonically dispersed in an ethanol solution containing ATES. The modified particles were washed in pure ethanol and dried before being used as filler. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to analyze the nanoparticles. Five groups of composite resin specimens were prepared: one control group, and four groups using either modified or unmodified nanoparticles comprising 0.5% or 1.0% of the material by weight. The mechanical properties (microhardness and flexural strength) of all five groups of specimens were measured.

Results

After modification, the particles’ FTIR spectrum shows a new absorption doublet at 1200 and 1020cm⁻¹. TEM images show that the modified particles have better dispersion, and that their clusters are small enough to create a homogeneous surface on dental RBCs. Composite resin specimens including modified nano-TiO₂ have significantly better mechanical properties than the control group (P<0.05). The improvement of adding 1.0wt.% modified nano-TiO₂ particles was better than that of 0.5wt.%.

Conclusions

Surface modification by the organosilane ATES influences the dispersion and linkage of TiO₂ nanoparticles within a resin matrix, and the modified particles are found to improve the microhardness and flexural strength of dental RBCs.

Keywords: Dental resin-based composites, Nano-TiO₂, Surface modification, Microhardness, Flexural strength