Mechanical property and antibacterial activity of silver-loaded polycation functionalized nanodiamonds for use in resin-based dental material formulations

Research on the cutting-edge nano-fillers for designing dental restorative materials with excellent mechanical property and antibacterial performance is demanding and provoking work. In this study, we fabricated silver-loaded polycation functionalized nanodiamonds (Ag/QNDs) that harbored dual biocidal modes for use as reinforced filler in dental resin. As a result, by reason of homogeneous dispersion and strong bonding with resin matrix, Ag/QNDs-reinforced resin exhibited great improvement of Vickers hardness, flexural strength and modulus as compared with pure resins. Due to the combined bactericidal effect of Ag+ and cationic polymers, Ag/QNDs-containing composites had an excellent antibacterial activity even at a concentration of 1.0 wt% but without significant cytotoxicity. Therefore, development of the Ag/QNDs hybrid is expected to aid in significant improvement of lifetime and quality of dental restorative resin.