Mechanical properties of resin-based cements with different dispensing and mixing methods

Statement of problem

Resin-based cements are frequently used in clinical practice. To reduce time and technique sensitivity, manufacturers have introduced the same brand of cement with different dispensing methods. The effect of this change on properties of the cement is unknown.

Purpose

The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the mechanical properties of resin-based cements with different dispensing systems.

Material and methods

Specimens of resin-based cements (n=14) PANAVIA SA Cement Plus Handmix, PANAVIA SA Cement Plus Automix, RelyX Unicem Handmix, RelyX Unicem 2 Automix, G-CEM Capsule Automix, G-CEM LinkAce Automix, Variolink II Handmix, and Variolink Esthetic Automix were prepared for each mechanical test. They were examined after thermocycling (n=7/subgroup) for 20 000 cycles as to fracture toughness (FT) (ISO standard 6872; single-edge V-notched beam method), compressive strength (CS) (ISO 9917-1), and diametral tensile strength (DTS). The specimens were mounted and loaded at a crosshead rate of 1 mm/min (0.5 mm/min for FT) with a universal testing machine until failure occurred. The 2-and 1-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey HSD post hoc test were used to analyze data for statistical significance (α=05).

Results

Thermocycling had a significant effect in reducing the FT property of all resin-based cements except RelyX Unicem 2 and G-CEM LinkAce (P<.05). Variolink II and G-CEM LinkAce showed better FT properties than their automixed counterparts (P<.05). The overall CS of all automixed resin-based cements was better than that of their hand-mixed counterpart, except for Variolink II. PANAVIA SA Automixed and G-CEM LinkAce had higher DTS than their hand-mixed counterparts (P<.05).

Conclusions

Changing the dispensing method alters the mechanical properties of resin-based cements. The clinical significance of these results is yet to be determined.