the effect of different mixing methods on the ph and solubility of mineral trioxide aggregate and calcium-enriched mixture

introduction: the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different mixing techniques on the ph and solubility of mineral trioxide aggregate (mta) and calcium-enriched mixture (cem). methods and materials: five samples were prepared from each biomaterial with different mixing techniques including hand-, amalgamator- or ultrasonic-mixing and were then placed in pre-weighted plastic tubes to determine their ph values. each tube was then incubated in 10 ml deionized distilled water for 1 h at 37 º c. an electrode was placed in the fluid in each flask at 24 º c and the ph was recorded. in the next stage, six samples from each mixing technique/material were separately placed in glass bottles containing 50 ml of distilled water at 37 º c for 1 h and were let dry for 1 h at 37 º c. the samples’ weights were measured and recorded twice. the procedure was repeated at 1-, 7- and 21-day intervals. data were analyzed with the repeated measures anova (for solubility) and two-way anova (for ph) and then the post-hoc tukey’s test was done. results: the ph of the materials was not significantly affected by mixing methods ( p =0.8 for cem and p =0.1 for mta). the solubility of all test groups was within the acceptable range (≤3%). however, the solubility of cem at 1- and 21-day intervals was significantly different ( p =0.03 for 1 day and p =0.001 for 21 days). different mixing techniques had significant effects on the solubility of mta at the three time points ( p= 0.004, 0.003 and 0.002 for 1-, 7- and 21-day intervals, respectively). conclusion: the ph of biomaterials was not influenced by the mixing technique and their solubility was within the acceptable range.