An amino acid-modified and non-HEMA containing glass-ionomer cement

It is known that unreacted 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in current resin modified glass ionomer cements (RMGICs) shows potential cytotoxicity to pulp and surrounding tissues. Elimination of HEMA could make RMGICs more attractive for dental applications. In this research, novel six acrylate and methacrylate derivatives of amino acids were synthesized, characterized and used for replace HEMA in RMGICs. The experimental RMGICs were formulated with vinyl-containing polymer, amino acid derivative, water, and commercial Fuji II LC glass. Among all the derivatives, methacryloyl beta-alanine (MBA) was selected for further formulations due to its relatively low solution viscosity and high CS. Effects of polymer content and powder/liquid, P/L, ratio were significant. The formulation with liquid composition of 50/25/25 (polymer/MBA/water) and P/L ratio of 2.7/1 was found the optimal. It appears that this novel non-HEMA-containing RMGIC system based on amino acid derivatives will be a better dental restorative because it demonstrated improved mechanical strengths and may eliminate potential cytotoxicity in current RMGICs caused by leached HEMA. The optimal MBA-modified GIC were 20% higher in CS, 70% higher in DTS and 93% higher in FS, compared to Fuji II LC.