Conventional and Resin-Modified Glass Ionomer Cement Surface Characteristics after Acidic Challenges

The aim of the present study was to assess by atomic force microscopy (AFM) the surface roughness of a traditional glass ionomer cement- GIC (Fuji IX GP, GC Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and a resin modified glass ionomer cement- RMGIC (Vitremer, 3M ESPE, St. Paul, MN, USA) after different immersion regimes on some acidic drinks. Sixteen cylindrical samples having the height of 5 mm and the thickness of 2 mm were obtained from each material and they were divided into two groups: Group I (Fuji IX samples) and Group II (Vitremer samples). Specimens of each group were then randomly divided into 4 subgroups: subgroup A (control)-15 samples were kept in artificial saliva and in the other three subgroups, each having 15 samples the samples were immersed in Coca-Cola (subgroup B), Cappy lemonade and mint (subgroup C) and Fuzetea (subgroup D) for 7 days (subgroups Al-D1), 14 days (subgroups A2-D2), and 21 days (subgroups A3-D3). AFM qualitative and quantitative surface evaluation (mean value of surface roughness parameter, Sa) of each sample was performed. The highest surface roughness was determined when both materials were submerged 14 days in acidic drinks. Traditional GIC was more affected by acidic environment when comparing to RMGIC.

Automated summary

The aim of this study was to evaluate the surface roughness of traditional glass ionomer cement and resin modified glass ionomer cement after immersion in acidic drinks using atomic force microscopy. The results showed that the highest surface roughness was observed after 14 days of immersion in acidic drinks for both materials. Traditional glass ionomer cement was more affected by the acidic environment compared to resin modified glass ionomer cement.