Dental luting agents Flashcards
What is luting agent another word for?
- Dental cement
What is the ideal film thickness of luting agent?
- 25um or less
What is the ideal viscosity for luting agent?
- Must be low to allow seating of restoration without interference
- Viscosity increases as material sets therefore must seat restoration quickly and maintain pressure
What ease of use properties should luting agents have?
- Easy to mix i.e via clicker system in encapsulated ones
- Working time long to allow for seating of restoration
- Setting time short
Why must luting agents be radiopaque?
- Some ceramic crowns are radiolucent
- Makes it easier to see marginal breakdown
Ideally how should a luting agent bond to tooth and indirect restoration?
- Bond chemically to tooth and indirect rest with a permanent and impenetrable bond
What is the ideal aesthetics of luting agents?
- Tooth coloured with variation in shades and translucency
- Non staining
What is the ideal solubility of luting agent?
- Low
What is the ideal cariostatic properties of luting agents?
- Fluoride releasing
- Antibacterial
- Important in preventing secondary caries around crown margins
What is the ideal biocompatibility of luting agents?
- Non toxic
- Not damaging to the pulp (inappropriate pH and heat on setting)
- Low thermal conductivity
What are the ideal mechanical properties of luting agents?
- High compressive strength (dentine 275MPa)
- High tensile strength (dentine 50MPa)
- High hardness value (dentine 70K and enamel 400k)
- Young modulus similar to tooth (dentine 15GPa)
- No luting agent gets close to tooth values for more than one or two physical properties*
What are the types of dental cement?
- Zinc phosphate
- Zinc polycarboxylate
What are the types of glass ionomer cement?
- Conventional
- Resin modified
What are the types of composite resin luting agents?
- Total etch for use with DBA
- Self etch
- Requires etch but has own bonding agent incorporated
What is zinc phosphate?
- In use for 100+years
- Acid base reaction
- Powder and liquid
- Excellent clinical service
- Easy to use
- Cheap
What is the constituents of zinc phosphate powder?
- Zinc oxide >90% (main reactive ingredient)
- Magnesium dioxide <10%
- Other oxides (alumina and silica)
What is magnesium dioxide used for in zinc phosphate powder?
- Gives white colour
- Increases compressive strength
What are alumina and silica used for in the powder of zinc phosphate cement?
- Improves physical properties
- Alter shade of set material
What are the constituents of zinc phosphate liquid?
- Aqueous sol of phosphoric acid (approx 50%)
- Aluminium oxide that ensures even consistency of set material
- Zinc oxide slows the reaction giving better working time
What are the reactions of the zinc phosphate cement?
- Initial acid base reaction
- Followed by hydration reaction
- Results in formation of crystallised phosphate matrix
What does the aluminium oxide prevent in Zinc phosphate?
- Prevent crystallisation leading to amorphous glassy matrix of acid salt surrounding unreacted ZnO powder
What happens when zinc phosphate cement matures?
- Matrix originally insoluble but it is porous and contains free water from setting reaction
- When it matures it binds the water
- Leads to stronger, less porous material
What are the disadvantages of zinc phosphate cement?
- Low initial pH approx 2
- Exothermic setting reaction (release heat)
- Not adhesive to tooth or restoration
- Not cariostatic
- Final set takes 24hrs
- Brittle
- Opaque
What can a low pH lead to?
- Pulpal irritation
How is zinc phosphate retained in tooth?
- Works like grout on tiles and fills spaces
- Retention slightly micromechanical due to surface irregularities on prep and restoration