High strength polymer/silicon nitride composites for dental restorations

Feng Wang; Jingshu Guo; Ke Li; Jian Sun; Yuping Zeng; Congqin Ning

doi:10.1016/j.dental.2019.05.022

High strength polymer/silicon nitride composites for dental restorations

Dent Mater. 2019 Sep;35(9):1254-1263. doi: 10.1016/j.dental.2019.05.022. Epub 2019 Jun 12.

Authors

Feng Wang¹, Jingshu Guo², Ke Li², Jian Sun³, Yuping Zeng², Congqin Ning⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China; NTNU Nanomechanical Lab, Department of Structural Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, 7491, Norway.
² State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China.
³ Department of Prosthodontics, Ninth Peoples Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200011, China. Electronic address: doctorsunjian74@aliyun.com.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China. Electronic address: cqning@mail.sic.ac.cn.

PMID: 31201018
DOI: 10.1016/j.dental.2019.05.022

Abstract

Objectives: To fabricate polymer-infiltrated silicon nitride composite (PISNC) and evaluate the potential of PISNC in dental application.

Methods: Porous silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) ceramics were fabricated through gelcasting and pressureless sintering. Polymer infiltrating was carried out then and composites were obtained after curing of polymer. Flexural strength and microstructures of porous ceramic scaffolds and polymer-infiltrated composites were obtained by three-point bending and SEM, respectively. Phase distributions of polymer-infiltrated ceramics were observed by EDS. Human gingival fibroblast cells (HGFs) were used to evaluate the cytocompatibility and IL-6 release. The cell morphology were observed by SEM. The amount of released IL-6 was investigated using ELISA test system.

Results: Porosity and mechanical strength of porous ceramics ranged from 45.1 to 49.3% and 171.8-262.3MPa, respectively. The bicontinuous structure of polymer-infiltrated composites possessed them with excellent mechanical properties. Porosity and mechanical strength of polymer-infiltrated Si₃N₄ composites ranged from 1.94 to 2.28% and 273-385.3MPa, respectively. Additionally, the PISNC enhanced the initial adhesion and spreading activity of HGFs compared with PMMA. The PISNC showed similar IL-6 release performance with PMMA samples.

Significances: The PISNC is a promising candidate for dental restorations and high-load medical applications.

Keywords: Cytocompatibility; Dental restoration; Polymer-infiltrated Si(3)N(4) composites; Porous Si(3)N(4).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Ceramics*
Humans
Materials Testing
Polymers*
Silicon Compounds

Substances

Polymers
Silicon Compounds
silicon nitride