Bisphenol A in Dental Materials: A Review

Objective: To review scientific literature on BPA in dental materials, introducing the chemistry of BPA and its derivatives, and evaluating the BPA release and exposure from dental materials and the potential human health risks. Materials & methods: A search of English peer-reviewed dental literature from Pub Med and MEDLINE databases was conducted, and the key words included bisphenol A and BPA. Results & discussion: Most modern dental resin materials contain BPAderivatives (but not pure BPA), such as BisGMA, BisEMA, and BisDMA. Unlike BisGMA and BisEMA, BisDMA has an ester linkage connecting bisphenol A molecule to resin. The ester linkage of BisDMA undergoes hydrolysis reaction in saliva to convert BisDMA into BPA. In contrast, neither BisGMA or BisEMA is converted into BPA in saliva. The dental materials containing BisGMA or BisEMA release the amount of BPA far below (0.1%) the daily BPA intakes in people from other sources (dust, air, water, etc.), which poses no human health risks. The dental materials containing BisDMA or polycarbonate has not been found to pose any adverse human health risks, but more studies should be conducted to evaluate the potential adverse human health effects of BisDMA and polycarbonate-based dental materials.