| Abstract: | The Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) approach was suggested to be a suitablemethod to treat enamel and dentine carious lesions in patients with disabilities. Theuse of a restorative glass-ionomer with optimal mechanical properties is, therefore,very important.Objective:To test the null-hypotheses that no difference in diametral tensile, compressiveand flexural strengths exists between: (1) The EQUIA system and (2) The ChemfilRock (encapsulated glass-ionomers; test materials) and the Fuji 9 Gold Label andthe Ketac Molar Easymix (hand-mixed conventional glass-ionomers; controlmaterials); (3) The EQUIA system and Chemfil Rock. Material and Methods:Specimens for testing flexural (n=240) and diametral tensile (n=80) strengthswere prepared according to standardized specifications; the compressive strength(n=80) was measured using a tooth-model of a class II ART restoration. ANOVA andTukey B tests were used to test for significant differences between dependent andindependent variables. Results:The EQUIA system and Chemfil Rock had significantly higher mean scores for allthe three strength variables than the Fuji 9 Gold Label and Ketac Molar Easymix(α=0.05). The EQUIA system had significant higher mean scores for diametraltensile and flexural strengths than the Chemfil Rock (α=0.05). Conclusion:The two encapsulated high-viscosity glass-ionomers had significantly higher testvalues for diametral tensile, flexural and compressive strengths than the commonlyused hand-mixed high-viscosity glass-ionomers. |
