Measurement of Solubility and Water Sorption of Dental Nanocomposites Light Cured by Argon Laser

Different parameters used for photoactivation process and also composition provide changes in the properties of dental composites. In the present work the effect of different power density of argon laser and filler loading on solubility (SL) and water sorption (WS) of light-cure dental nanocomposites was studied. The resin of nanocomposites was prepared by mixing bisphenol A glycol dimethacrylate (Bis-GMA) and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) with a mass ratio of 65/35. 20 wt.% and 25 wt.% of nanosilica fillers with a primary particle size of 10 nm were added to the resin. Camphorquinone (CQ) and DMAEMA were added as photoinitiator system. The nanocomposites were cured by applying the laser beam at the wavelength of 472 nm and power densities of 260 and 340 mW/cm² for 40 sec. Solubility and water sorption were then measured according to ISO 4049, which in our case, the maximums were 2.2% and 4.3% at 260 mW/cm² and 20% filler, respectively. The minimum solubility (1.2%) and water sorption (3.8%) were achieved for the composite containing 25% filler cured at 340 mW/cm². The results confirmed that higher power density and filler loading decreased solubility of unreacted monomers and water sorption and improved physico-mechanical properties of nanocomposites.