surface antibacterial properties of four tooth-colored restorative materials

objective: this study investigated the antibacterial properties of an ion-releasing resin composite (degufill), a hybrid resin composite (inten-s), a compomer (compoglass f) and a resin-modified glass ionomer (vitremer) against streptococcus mutans. materials and methods: the bacteria were derived from the dental plaque and cultured on blood agar plates. eppendorf tubes were filled by unset restorative materials. a narrow conical cavity was created in the center of each material, prior to curing and the bacterial suspension was placed into each cavity. each tube was incubated for the selected time pe-riods of 8, 24, 48 hours and 5 days and the procedure was repeated five times. after the incubation period, the suspensions were removed and the number of viable bacteria was evaluated. the data were analyzed using two-way anova, one-way anova and tukey hsd tests. results: after the incubation periods of 8, 24 and 48 hours, all restorative materials ex-cept inten-s showed significant growth inhibition when compared to the control group. there was a significant difference in the number of bacterial colonies in different incuba-tion periods. the interaction between the materials and time intervals was also significant (p<0.05). conclusion: the method used in this study was almost successful in ranking restorative dental materials according to their antibacterial effects. inten-s showed no inhibitory ef-fect on bacterial growth, while other materials, especially vitremer, showed considerable antibacterial effects.