Comparison of microleakage under orthodontic brackets bonded with five different adhesive systems: in vitro study.

BACKGROUND: Orthodontic treatment is associated with numerous adverse side effects, such as enamel discoloration, demineralization or even caries. The presence of microleakage between the enamel and the adhesive and between the adhesive and the base of the orthodontic bracket allows penetration of the bacteria, molecules, and liquids into the enamel and can lead to unpleasant "white spot lesions" or secondary caries beneath and around the brackets. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate microleakage in five adhesive systems commonly used in orthodontic practice for bonding brackets. METHODS: One hundred extracted premolars were divided into five groups of twenty teeth. Stainless steel Legend medium metal brackets were bonded to teeth using five adhesive systems: resin-reinforced glass ionomer cement GC Fuji Ortho LC (GCF) and composite materials Light Bond (LB), Transbond XT (TB), Trulock™ Light Activated Adhesive (TL), and GC Ortho Connect (GCO). The specimens were subjected to thermal cycling, stained with 2% methylene blue, sectioned with low-speed diamond saw Isomet and evaluated under a digital microscope. Microleakage was detected at the enamel-adhesive and adhesive-bracket interfaces from occlusal and gingival margins. Statistical analysis was performed using generalized linear mixed models with beta error distribution. RESULTS: Microleakage was observed in all materials, with GCF showing the highest amount of microleakage. Composite materials GCO, TB, and LB exhibited the lowest amount of microleakage with no statistical difference between them, while TL showed a statistically significantly higher amount of microleakage (p < 0.001). The enamel-adhesive interface had more microleakage in all composite materials (GCO, LB, TB, and TL) than the adhesive bracket-interface (p < 0.001). The highest amount of microleakage occurred in the gingival region in all materials. CONCLUSION: Composite materials showed better adhesive properties than a resin-reinforced glass ionomer cement. The presence of microleakage at the enamel-adhesive interface facilitates the penetration of various substances into enamel surfaces, causing enamel demineralization and the development of dental caries.

In Vivo Assessment on Freeze-Cast Calcium Phosphate-Based Scaffolds with a Selective Cell/Tissue Ingrowth.

Highly porous bioceramic scaffolds are widely used as bone substitutes in many applications. However, the use of bioceramics is often limited to hard tissues due to the risk of potential soft tissue calcification. A further limitation of highly porous bioceramic scaffolds is their poor mechanical stability, manifested by their tendency to break under stress. In our study, highly porous CaP-based scaffolds were prepared via freeze-casting with longitudinal and oriented pores ranging from 10 to 20 µm and a relative porosity of ∼70%. The resulting scaffolds achieved a flexural strength of 10.6 ± 2.7 MPa, which, in conjunction with their favorable bioactivity, made them suitable for in vivo testing. The prepared scaffolds were subcutaneously implanted in rats for two distinct periods: 6 weeks and 6 months, respectively. The subsequent development of fibrous tissue and involvement of myofibroblasts, newly formed vessels, and macrophages were observed, with notable changes in spatial and temporal distributions within the implantation. The absence of calcification in the surrounding soft tissue, as a result of the narrow pore geometry, indicates the opportunity to tailor the scaffold behavior for soft tissue regeneration.

Enhanced Adhesion of Electrospun Polycaprolactone Nanofibers to Plasma-Modified Polypropylene Fabric.

Excellent adhesion of electrospun nanofiber (NF) to textile support is crucial for a broad range of their bioapplications, e.g., wound dressing development. We compared the effect of several low- and atmospheric pressure plasma modifications on the adhesion between two parts of composite-polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous mat (functional part) and polypropylene (PP) spunbond fabric (support). The support fabrics were modified before electrospinning by low-pressure plasma oxygen treatment or amine plasma polymer thin film or treated by atmospheric pressure plasma slit jet (PSJ) in argon or argon/nitrogen. The adhesion was evaluated by tensile test and loop test adapted for thin NF mat measurement and the trends obtained by both tests largely agreed. Although all modifications improved the adhesion significantly (at least twice for PSJ treatments), low-pressure oxygen treatment showed to be the most effective as it strengthened adhesion by a factor of six. The adhesion improvement was ascribed to the synergic effect of high treatment homogeneity with the right ratio of surface functional groups and sufficient wettability. The low-pressure modified fabric also stayed long-term hydrophilic (ten months), even though surfaces usually return to a non-wettable state (hydrophobic recovery). In contrast to XPS, highly surface-sensitive water contact angle measurement proved suitable for monitoring subtle surface changes.

Different Types of Particle Effects in Creep Tests of CoCrFeNiMn High-Entropy Alloy.

Compressive creep tests were performed on a CoCrFeNiMn equiatomic alloy with the dispersion of (i) aluminum nitride or (ii) boron nitride at temperatures of 973 K and 1073 K. The results are compared with previously published creep rates of the unreinforced matrix alloy and the alloy when strengthened by yttrium + titanium oxides. The comparison reveals that the creep rate is essentially unchanged by the presence of aluminum nitride particles, whereas it is reduced by the presence of oxide particles. Boron nitride particles do not influence the creep rate at low stresses but reduce it substantially at high stresses.

Effectiveness of dentin pre-treatment on bond strength of two self-adhesive resin cements compared to an etch-and-rinse system: an in vitro study.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: It has been shown that selective etching improves the bond strength of some self-adhesive resin cements to enamel. The same has yet to be determined with dentin pre-treatment. PURPOSE: To evaluate the tensile bond strength of two self-adhesive resin cements after two dentin surface pre-treatments, and also to analyze the cement/dentin interface. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and twelve human third molars were extracted. The teeth were distributed into seven groups (n = 16). Maxcem Elite Chroma (MAX) (Kerr, Scafati, Italy) and Relyx U200 (RLX) (3M ESPE, Neuss, Germany) were used without pre-treatment or with two dentin pre-treatments (polyacrylic acid or phosphoric acid). A conventional etch-and-rinse (EAR) luting cement, NX3 Nexus (NX3) (Kerr, Scafati, Italy), was used as an external control group. Before testing, all specimens were stored in distilled water for 24 hours. Three specimens from each group were prepared for scanning electron microscopy observation (SEM). A tensile bond strength test (TBS) was performed for the remaining samples. The data were statistically analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Pairwise comparisons using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. RESULTS: MAX without pre-treatment and with phosphoric acid etching attained statistically similar bond strengths to NX3 (P > 0.05). There was a statistical difference (P = 0.00488) between RLX without pre-treatment (5.62 MPa) and NX3 (10.88 MPa). Phosphoric acid pre-treatment increases the bond strength values of RLX to a strength that is comparable to NX3 (P > 0.05). The lowest tensile bond strength (TBS) was attained after the application of polyacrylic acid with MAX (1.98 MPa). No statistical differences were found between the RLX bond strength values after polyacrylic acid treatment and RLX without pre-treatment or NX3 (P > 0.05). SEM observations disclosed an enhanced potential of the self-adhesive cements to infiltrate into dentin tubules and form resin tags when applied after phosphoric acid pre-treatment. The failure mode was dominantly adhesive. CONCLUSIONS: On dentin, the self-adhesive resin cement MAX might be an effective alternative to conventional resin cement. Etching the dentin with phosphoric acid does not have a negative effect on the bond strength of MAX to dentin. On the other hand, phosphoric acid improved the bond strength of RLX when compared to EAR cement.

Fatigue properties of UFG Ti grade 2 dental implant vs. conventionally tested smooth specimens.

Complicated geometry in combination with surface treatment strongly deteriorates fatigue resistance of metallic dental implants. Mechanical properties of pure Ti grade 2, usually used for dental implant production, were shown to be significantly improved due to intensive grain refinement via Conform SPD. The increase of the tensile strength properties was accompanied by a significant increase in the fatigue resistance and fatigue endurance limit. However, the SLA treatment usually used for the implants' surface roughening, resulted in the fatigue properties and endurance limit decrease, while this effect was more pronounced for the ultrafine-grained comparing to the coarse-grained material when tested under tensile-tensile loading mode. The testing of the implants is usually provided under the bending mode. Even though different testing condition for the conventional specimens tests and implants testing was adopted, a numerical study revealed their comparable fatigue properties. The fatigue limit determined for the implants was 105% higher than the one for coarse-grained and only by 4 % lower than the one for ultrafine-grained Ti grade 2. Based on the obtained results, conventional specimens testing can be used for the prediction of the fatigue limit of the implants.

Fatigue Crack Initiation Change of Cast AZ91 Magnesium Alloy from Low to Very High Cycle Fatigue Region.

Fatigue tests were performed on the AZ91 cast alloy to identify the mechanisms of the fatigue crack initiation. In different fatigue regions, different mechanisms were observed. In the low and high cycle fatigue regions, slip markings formation accompanied with Mg17Al12 particles cracking were observed. Slip markings act as the fatigue crack initiation sites. The size and number of slip markings decreased with decreased stress amplitude applied. When slip markings formation was suppressed due to low stress amplitude, particle cracking became more important and the cracks continued to grow through the particle/solid solution interface. The change of the fatigue crack initiation mechanisms led the S-N curve to shift to the higher number of cycles to the fracture, demonstrated by its stepwise character. A lower fatigue limit of 60 MPa was determined at 20 kHz for 2 × 109 cycles compared to the 80 MPa determined at 60 Hz for 1 × 107 cycles.

Phase, Composition and Structure Changes of CoCrNi-Based Concentrated Alloys Resulting from High Temperature Oxidation.

In this work, CoCrNi, FeCoCrNi and CoCrFeMnNi concentrated alloys with a Y-Ti oxide particle dispersion were prepared by mechanical alloying and Spark Plasma Sintering. The alloy consists of an FCC Ni-based matrix with a Y-Ti oxide dispersion and additional phases of Cr23C6 and Cr2O3. The effect of Fe, Mn, and Y-Ti oxide particles on the formation of oxide scales and the composition of the adjacent CoCrNi and FeCoCrNi alloys was studied. It was found that alloys without Mn in their composition form a protective Cr2O3 scale. The Cr23C6 particles provide an alternative mechanism for balancing the chromium loss during the oxidation. Y and Ti from the oxide particles participate in the formation of the protective oxide scales. Fe promotes Y and especially Ti diffusion through the Cr2O3 scale, resulting in the formation of Ti-depleted regions in the alloy. The findings will serve for the further development of these new materials.

Electrolyte-Supported Fuel Cell: Co-Sintering Effects of Layer Deposition on Biaxial Strength.

The mechanical reliability of reversible solid oxide cell (SOC) components is critical for the development of highly efficient, durable, and commercially competitive devices. In particular, the mechanical integrity of the ceramic cell, also known as membrane electrolyte assembly (MEA), is fundamental as its failure would be detrimental to the performance of the whole SOC stack. In the present work, the mechanical robustness of an electrolyte-supported cell was determined via ball-on-3-balls flexural strength measurements. The main focus was to investigate the effect of the manufacturing process (i.e., layer by layer deposition and their co-sintering) on the final strength. To allow this investigation, the electrode layers were screen-printed one by one on the electrolyte support and thus sintered. Strength tests were performed after every layer deposition and the non-symmetrical layout was taken into account during mechanical testing. Obtained experimental data were evaluated with the help of Weibull statistical analysis. A loss of mechanical strength after every layer deposition was usually detected, with the final strength of the cell being significantly smaller than the initial strength of the uncoated electrolyte (σ0 ≈ 800 MPa and σ0 ≈ 1800 MPa, respectively). Fractographic analyses helped to reveal the fracture behavior changes when individual layers were deposited. It was found that the reasons behind the weakening effect can be ascribed to the presence and redistribution of residual stresses, changes in the crack initiation site, porosity of layers, and pre-crack formation in the electrode layers.