Effect of dietary solvents on the strength of nanocomposite, compomer, glass ionomer cement: An in-vitro study

BACKGROUND: Intraoral degradation of resin restorative materials involves both mechanical and chemical factors. Thus, an in vitro study was conducted to compare the strength of nanocomposite to commonly used esthetic restorative materials in simulated in vivo conditions. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the influence of dietary solvents on the strength of nanocomposite and other esthetic restorative materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three test groups (nanocomposite, compomer and glass ionomer cement) each containing 60 pre-conditioned samples, divided into four subgroups of 15 samples each and conditioned in different dietary solvents, were subjected to shear punch test in custom designed shear punch apparatus in Instron Universal Testing Machine. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), paired t-test were implied. RESULTS: One-way ANOVA revealed nanocomposite to bear most shear punch strength post-conditioning, as compared with the other two test materials. CONCLUSION: Nanocomposite yielded better strength than the other two test materials, indicating its universal application as a restorative material.