Visible light cure characteristics of a cycloaliphatic polyester dimethacrylate alternative oligomer to bisGMA

Objective: The goal of this study was to characterize the light curing characteristics of a new oligomer PEM-665 designed to be used as an alternative monomer to BisGMA. Materials and methods: PEM-665 (P) and BisGMA (B) solutions were prepared with triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (T) diluent in different weight proportions (70/30 and 50/50). Solutions containing 70% P and 30% T were designated as 70PT, 70%B and 30%T as 70BT, 50%P and 50%T as 50PT and 50%B and 50%T as 50BT. The initiators were CQ (EDMAB was used as amine accelerator for CQ) and DPO in 1% concentration. Eight solutions were prepared in a factorial design: 70PT/DPO; 70PT/CQ; 50PT/DPO; 50PT/CQ; 70BT/DPO; 70BT/CQ; 50BT/DPO; 50BT/CQ. BISCO VIP visible light was used to cure the monomer solutions using 30 s exposure time and 400 W power setting. TA Instruments Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC 2910) was used to determine the heat of cure (J/g) during polymerization at 37 °C, from which molar heat of cure (kJ/mole) and %Conversion values were estimated. Results: Range of mean values as a function monomer selections were: heat of cure (J/g): 161.7 for 70PT/DPO system to 198.6 for 50BT/CQ system; molar heat of cure (kJ/mole): 67.3 for 70BT/DPO to 78.86 for 50PT/CQ; % conversion: 59.9 for 70BT/DPO to 70.3 for 50PT/CQ. Analysis of variance and Tukey HSD pairwise contrast showed statistically significant differences between % conversion means of PEM and BisGMA mixtures, with PEM mixtures showing significantly higher mean values. Conclusions: The results suggest that PEM-665 is a promising candidate material for dental polymer applications.