Water sorption and solubility of resin-modified polyalkenoate cements

The purpose of this study was to compare the water sorption and solubility of several resin-modified polyalkenoate cements. The materials evaluated included Variglass used as a restoration, base and liner; Fuji II LC(R); Fuji Liner(R); Vitrebond(R); Vitremer(R) and Photac-Bond(R). Z100, a composite resin, was used as control. All specimens were manipulated according to the manufacturers' instructions and then subjected to water sorption and solubility tests based on the ISO 4049 requirements. Data were subjected to one-way ANOVA and Duncan's test at a 0.05 significance level. Results show that the composite resin control had significantly less water sorption than any of the resin-modified polyalkenoate cements evaluated. The degree of water sorption was product dependent and appeared to be influenced by the resin (HEMA) content. There was no apparent correlation between water sorption and solubility. Some of the resin-modified polyalkenoate cements retained water in their set structure and hence solubility could not be assessed.