Evaluation of Surface Roughness, Water Sorption, and Solubility of Glass Ionomer Restorative Cement Incorporated with Different Antibiotics

Abstract

: Objective: To evaluate the influence of adding different antibiotics to glass ionomer cement (GIC) on its surface roughness, water sorption, and solubility. Materials and Methods: A two-component GIC system (Fuji IX) and commercially available antibiotic tablets including ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin /clavulanate were used. The two types of powdered antibiotics were incorporated and stirred with the GIC powder at a ratio of 2 wt%. A total number of 120 Specimens were prepared using a split Teflon mold and grouped as follows; group I: Conventional GIC as a control group, group II : Ciprofloxacin-modified GIC, group III : (Amoxicillin/Clavulanate)-modified GIC, group IV : a combination of the two antibiotics-modified GIC. Each group was tested for surface roughness using a profilometer. Water sorption and solubility were evaluated after 7 days of immersion in distilled water. The collected data of each test were statistically analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post-hoc Tukey multiple comparisons. The level of significance was set at P ≤ 0.05. Results: For water sorption, the highest mean value was recorded in group II while the lowest value was reported in group III. For the solubility test, the greatest median value was recorded in group IV with the least value recorded in group III. For surface roughness, the highest mean Ra value was found in group II while the least value was reported in the control group (group I). Conclusions: The present in vitro study demonstrated that the incorporation of 2% of antibiotics into glass ionomer cement leads to increase solubility, water sorption, and surface roughness of GIC.