The effect of different organic solvents on the degradation of restorative materials

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the solubility of three restorative materials exposed to the different endodontic solvents. MATERIALS AND METHODS The organic solvents eucalyptus oil, xylol, chloroform, and orange oil, with distilled water as the control group was utilized. The restorative materials light-cured resin (Filtek Z250/3M ESPE), light-cured-resin-reinforced glass ionomer (Riva Light Cure LC/Southern Dental Industries SDI]) and resin-modified glass ionomer (Vitremer/3M ESPE) were analyzed. A total of 50 disks containing specimens (2 mm × 8 mm Ø) were prepared for each of the three classes of restorative materials, which were divided into 10 groups (n = 5) for immersion in eucalyptus oil, xylol, chloroform, orange oil or distilled water for periods of either 2 min or 10 min. The means of restorative material disintegration in solvents were obtained by the difference between the original preimmersion weight and the postimmersion weight in a digital analytical scale. Data were statistically analyzed by two-way analysis of variance while the difference between the materials was analyzed by Student-Newman-Keuls test. The significance level set at 0.05. RESULTS Vitremer showed the highest solubility, followed by Riva LC, and these were statistically different from eucalyptus oil, xylol, chloroform, and distilled water (P < 0.05). Regarding the immersion time in solvents, there were no significant differences between the two tested periods (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The solvents minimally degraded the composite resin, although they did influence the degradation of both resin-modified glass ionomer resin and resin reinforced with glass ionomer.