Quantification of Surface Relation Between Experimental Polylactic Acid Dental Matrix and Type II Glass Ionomers Using Peel Adhesion Test and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.

Aim: Type II glass ionomer cement (GIC) is a posterior restorative material that is generally not recommended for interaction with stainless steel due to chemical ion exchange. The purpose of this study is to quantify the surface relation of experimental three-dimensional (3D)-printed polylactic acid (PLA) and type II GIC using the peel adhesion test and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).

Materials And Methods: Experimental PLA dental matrix specimens were 3D printed in the form of an open circumferential dental matrix (75x6x0.0055 mm) using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) machine. The peel resistance test (ASTM D1876) was applied to determine the relative peel resistance of the adhesive bonds between the PLA dental matrix, traditional circumferential stainless steel (SS) matrix, and GIC. The PLA bands were characterized using an FT-IR spectrophotometer (Spectrum 100, PerkinElmer Inc., Waltham, MA, USA) for the simultaneous determination of the chemical relationships of the surfaces before and after the GIC was set in a simulated class II cavity model.

Results: The mean peel strengths (P/b) ± standard deviations of the PLA and SS dental matrix bands were 0.0017 ± 0.0003 N/mm and 0.3122 ± 0.0042 N/mm, respectively. The -C H stretching was observed at 3383 cm after adhesion, which corresponded to vibrational movements on the surface.

Conclusion:  It required ~184 times less force to separate the GIC from the PLA surface compared to the traditional SS matrix. Additionally, there was no evidence of a new chemical bond or strong chemical interaction occurring between the GIC and the experimental PLA dental matrix.