Novel Ag nanocrystals based dental resin composites with enhanced mechanical and antibacterial properties

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of trace addition of oleic acid coated Ag nanocrystals (Ag NCs) on mechanical and antibacterial properties of dental resin composites. Composites (70 wt% of silica loading) with 25 ppm, 50 ppm, 75 ppm and 100 ppm (wt) Ag NCs were prepared and the composite without Ag NCs served as a control. The experimental results showed that the addition of Ag NCs significantly improved the strength and modulus of the resin composite without compromising the shade. For the composite with 50 ppm Ag NCs, flexural strength (140.3 MPa), modulus (13.2 GPa) and compressive strength (347.2 MPa) were increased by 4.1%, 22.2%, 13.3%, respectively, compared with the control. The antibacterial test demonstrated that trace Ag NCs provided the resin composites with an antibacterial effect. Such strong and antibacterial dental resin composites might be advantageous to prevent secondary caries and be potential for future clinical applications.