The Chemical and Morphological Study of Calcium Silicate-Based Material (Biodentine^®) and Glass Ionomer Cement (GIC^®)

Attention was paid to the chemical properties of bioactive materials, and the reaction that could occur on their surface.

The evaluation of the chemical properties includes the solubility, water sorption, pH changes and calcium release of two dental materials (BD and GIC). In addition, the morphological structure of each material was studied after its immersion in two different solutions, i.e. deionized water and phosphate solution.

The chemical study was carried out for two sets of samples; 28 samples of each material. Samples were immersed in 10 mL of deionized water and stored at 37 °C for different times. The morphological structure and elemental analysis of BD and GIC samples were studied after immersion in the two solutions for 1, 7, 14 and 28 days.

Solubility of BD increased with time reaching a maximum value after 60 days (13.63 ± 2.08%). The solubility of GIC was negatively correlated with time, with a maximum value of 4.11 ± 0.47% for 3 h. The released Ca⁺² ions varied between 1.0 ± 0.3 mg (3 h) and 5.3 ± 0.8 mg (60 days) for BD. However, calcium was not detected in the GIC samples. The formation of calcium hydroxy-fluorapatites and strontium-fluoro-alumino-silicate, on the surface of BD and GIC, respectively, was clarified for the first time in this study.

A comparative study was carried out revealing the difference in the chemical properties and the morphological structure between the two studied materials. The results confirmed the biointeractivity and the bioactivity of BD and GIC.