Young's modulus and degree of conversion of different combination of light-cure dental resins

To evaluate Young's modulus and degree of conversion of several combinations of bisGMA, UEDMA, TEGDMA light-cure dental resin.

Young's modulus and DC% were studied for 21 different resin combinations of bisGMA, TEGDMA and UEDMA. Small universal testing machine and photo-calorimetry were used for the tests. The results were evaluated using ANOVA and Duncan's multiple range tests and regular t-test.

Young's modulus varied between 2.37±0.2 GPa (100% TEGDMA) and 4.15±0.2 GPa (100% bisGMA). By adding TEGDMA to bisGMA or UEDMA, the Young's modulus decreased significantly (p<0.05). Degree of conversion was significantly (p<0.05) higher when the wt% of TEGDMA was high in the mixtures than for highly concentrated bis-GMA (resin mixtures with TEGDMA in comparison to mixture with bisGMA had higher degree of conversion). DC% was significantly higher (p<0.05) for binary mixtures of UEDMA and TEGDMA, and significantly lower for 100 wt% bis-GMA (p<0.05). The DC% values were between 53.1%±0.9% (100% bisGMA) and 85.6%+/-1% (80% UEDMA-20% TEGDMA). The concentration of bisGMA, in the monomer mixture, affected DC% and Young's modulus oppositely.

The differences in the values for DC% were mostly justified by the differences in the molecular structures of the different monomers. It was also revealed that higher DC% does not always result in a higher Young's modulus, because molecular and network structural parameters play major roles in the final physical properties of the mixtures.