Composite 1 Flashcards
Historical development of tooth coloured filling materials
- silicate cements and acrylic resins
- silicate developed to glass ionomer cements and acrylic to composites
- 3 types used today - resin-modified glass ionomer cements, giomers and compomers
Silicate cements are developed from …
construction material
Composition of silicate cements
- white-ish powder hand mixed with liquid
- powder is fluoroaluminosilicate glass
- liquid is 50% phosphoric acid
Setting reaction of silicate cements
- acid and base = salt and water
- fluoride released
How does set silicate cement resemble amalgam?
- composite structure
- original powder surrounded by reaction products
Advantages of silicate cement
- good initial appearance - shade and translucency similar to enamel
- coefficient of thermal expansion - same as tooth
- low thermal diffusivity - protects pulp but never used for deep cavities
- fluoride release - unexpected, wasn’t understood
Disadvantages of silicate cements
- sensitive to moisture
- acidic due to phosphoric acid
- post-op sensitivity - acid may have irritated pulp
- no adhesion - needed undercut, marginal gaps formed
- very brittle
- solubility
Silicate cement was brittle. How was this controlled?
- only used in small anterior cavities
Why is solubility of silicate cement a disadvantage?
- poor stability and durability
- due to acids and dietary factors
How were acrylic resins developed?
- polymers based on acrylic monomers
- 1930s-50s
- polymethyl methacrylate - maybe useful
- had very large shrinkage on polymerisation
- so used mix pre-polymerised PMMA into monomer (21 to 6% shrinkage)
Acrylic resins contained what powders?
Role of them
- polymethylmethacrylate beads
- benzoyl peroxide to initiate
- pigments - tooth like appearance
Liquids in acrylic resins
Roles
- methylmethacrylate monomer
- NN’ dimethyl-p-toluidine - activator (at low temps)
Setting reaction of acrylic resins
free-radical addition polymerisation
Stages of acrylic resin reactions
- activation
- initiation
- propagation
- termination
Advantages of acrylic resins
- good initial appearance from pigments
- low solubility - more stable than silicates
- low acidity - less post-op irritation
- good insulator - protect pulp
- less brittle than silicates
Disadvantages of acrylic resins
- exothermic reaction
- residual monomer
- flexible
- soft and easily damaged
- marginal leakages and staining
Why is acrylic resin having an exothermic reaction a disadvantage?
- temp rise
- can cause pain and pulp damage
Why is acrylic resin having residual monomer a disadvantage?
- low degree of polymerisation
- irritant to tissues
- plasticiser
Why is acrylic resin being flexible a disadvantage?
- easily deformed in mastication
- plasticiser makes it worse
Why is acrylic resin having marginal leakage and staining a disadvantage?
- high shrinkage (incremental technique to build up layers didnt help)
- high coefficient of thermal expansion - higher than enamel and dentine
- no adhesion
- water absorption
What did we learn from silicate cement and acrylic resin to take into modern day materials?
- addition of pre-polymerised PMMA
- reduced polymerisation shrinkage, reduces setting temp rise
- since it’s already polymerised and takes up space in cavity
- but doesn’t improve water absorption, thermal expansion or mechanical proporties significantly