An evaluation of glass ionomer-based restorative materials as temporary restorations in endodontics

This article compares five restorative materials used to coronally seal endodontically treated teeth against bacterial leakage. Sixty extracted human premolars were used in this study. Access cavities were prepared and restored with one of the five materials. The restored teeth were placed between the top chamber at the coronal end and a bottom chamber at the apical end. The tooth-tubing mounts were aseptically sealed to glass vials containing sterile broth. The top chambers were filled with an inoculum of broth containing Streptococcus mutans bacteria. The bottom chambers were checked daily for turbidity, indicating leakage of the restorative material and bacterial growth; if the bottom chamber was turbid, the date was recorded. The experiment was conducted for 30 days. The results of this in vitro study indicate that glass ionomer and resin-modified glass ionomer restorative materials provide a better coronal seal against Streptococcus mutans than zinc oxide/eugenol in endodontic access cavities.