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In this work, the origin of the release phenomena occuring in resin-based dental restorative materials is demonstrated using confocal fluorescence microscopy and tapping mode atomic force microscopy techniques. The surface structure (microcavities, protruded filler particles, grain boundaries, and cracks) produced by water environment on the surface of composite resins and resin-modified glass-ionomeric cements (RMGICs) are shown. The water absorption and the subsequent weight decrease, induced by leaching process, have been measured by gravimetric analysis. The different toxicity effects induced by the component release are described.

This study aimed to show that the polymerization contraction of dental methacrylate-based materials, when used as adhesives on hard substrate, produces voids at the material-substrate interface. This phenomenology is closely related with the nanoleakage and the sealing ability of these materials. One prime/bond system, three restorative composite resins, and one orthodontic bonding system were cured by using mirror-like glass slides as a compliance-free reference substrate. The adhesive surface was analyzed by atomic force microscopy, and the polymerization contraction of bulk material was tested by laser beam-scanning method. Nanoperiodic structure of three-dimensional (3D) images, section analysis, and roughness characteristics (R(a) and R(z)) indicated that polymerization contraction produced voids at the interface. When the adhesive surface was exposed to oral simulating fluids (water, ethanol, and lactic acid solutions), hydrolytic degradation involved some hundreds of nanometers in depth. In visible light-cured (VLC) materials, the interface porosity decreased when an irradiation pause ( approximately 2 min) was carried out during gelation., ((c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Several properties of dental materials are characterized by dimensional variation induced by different parameters. In this work a non-contact method used for measurement of linear dimensional variation is shown. The accuracy is +/- 1 micron for sample length ranging from 1 to 70 mm.

An He-Ne scanning laser beam was used to measure for the first time the linear shrinkage of light-cured microfilled composites. A low-power beam, which has a wavelength (632.8 nm) different from the polymerization wavelength (approximately 450 nm), was used. In these conditions no shrinkage is induced by the laser light. This method of measurement makes it possible to analyse small samples with a very low error (1.1 microns). Five different materials were tested using 10-20 mg specimens, and the shrinkage process was examined in detail over 2 days. All these materials showed shrinkage of more than 50% of their original length after 1 min of irradiation and approximately 99% of the total shrinkage occurred 4 h after irradiation.

Porosity in the pastes of composite resins before and after polymerization has been measured. The influence of the diameter of the extrusion orifices and the spatulation of the chemically-activated pastes has been evaluated. Considering that thin layers of these materials are transparent, the investigation has been carried out mainly by analysis of approximately 300 microns or lower thickness layers, that are still transparent under the microscope. Generally, there was a significant dependence of the porosity on the orifice diameter. However, this rule showed some exceptions. As far as the chemically-activated pastes were concerned, in all examined cases the number of small size (10-40 microns) porosities increased after spatulation.

Some research methods used in the dental material laboratory of Parma University CLOPD are reported. Some apparatus were bought out, other apparatus were designed and made express. All apparatus are used both by the students and by the researchers for control, characterization and research problem.