A calcium aluminate cement as restorative material in Class V cavities

Recently a calcium aluminate cement (Doxa Certex, Uppsala, Sweden) has been developed intended to be used as direct restorative filling material. The aim of this study was to evaluate intra-individually the experimental calcium aluminate cement (CAC) and a resin composite (RC;Tetric Ceram) in Class V restorations. Each of 46 participants received at least one pair of restorations of the same size, one CAC and one RC. The 119 restorations were evaluated clinically, according to slightly modified USPHS criteria, at baseline, after 6 mths, 1, 2 and 3 yrs. None of the patients reported post-operative sensitivity. At 3 yrs, 111 restorations were evaluated. Significantly better clinical durability was shown for RC. Two non-acceptable CAC restorations were observed at 6 months, 3 CAC and 1 RC at 12 months, 5 CAC and 2 RC at 24 months, and 8 CAC at 36 months. This resulted in a cumulative failure frequency of 32% for the CAC material and 5% for the RC material. Main reason for failure for the CAC was total or partial lost restorations, and for the RC lost restorations. It can be concluded that the CAC showed a non-acceptable clinical failure rate for Class V restorations.