Assessment of flexural strength, diametral tensile strength and microhardness among Cention-N, resin-modified glass ionomer cement, and resin composite: An in vitro study

TL;DR

This study compares the mechanical properties of three tooth-colored dental materials and finds that Cention-N performs well for use in posterior teeth.

Contribution

The study provides new empirical data on the mechanical performance of alkasite-based dental materials compared to others.

Findings

Cention-N showed higher flexural strength and microhardness compared to other materials.

Cention-N had similar diametral tensile strength to the giomer formulation.

Alkasite-based materials are suitable for posterior tooth restoration due to their mechanical properties.

Abstract

The use of mechanically strong restorative materials in posterior teeth is still a clinical issue in modern dentistry. Therefore, it
is of interest to compare the flexural strength, diametral tensile strength and surface microhardness of three tooth-colored restorative
materials, which are Cention-N (alkasite-based material), Beautifil II LC (giomer) and Ionolux (resin-modified glass ionomer cement). A
total of 90 shaped cylindrical samples were produced and put under mechanical testing procedures. Statistically, Cition N has been found
to have a much better flexural strength (58.33-1.74 Mpa), microhardness (55.61-8.25 Hv) and still had similar diametral tensile strength
as the giomer formulation. Thus, we show that restorative materials composed of alkasite have desirable mechanical characteristics that
can be used in loading of the posterior part of the tooth.