Compressive fatigue limit of four types of dental restorative materials

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quasi-static compressive strength and the compressive fatigue limit of four different dental restorative materials, before and after aging in distilled water for 30 days. A conventional glass ionomer cement (Fuji IX GP; IG), a zinc-reinforced glass ionomer cement (Chemfil rock; CF), a light curable resin-reinforced glass ionomer cement (Fuji II LC; LC) and a resin-based composite (Quixfil; QF) were investigated. Cylindrical specimens (4 mm in diameter and 6 mm in height) were prepared according to the manufacturer׳s instructions. The compressive fatigue limit was obtained using the staircase method. Samples were tested in distilled water at 37 °C, at a frequency of 10 Hz with 105 cycles set as run-out. 17 fatigue samples were tested for each group. Two-way ANOVA and one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey׳s post-hoc test were used to analyze the results. Among the four types of materials, the resin-based composite exhibited the highest compressive strength (244±13.0 MPa) and compressive fatigue limit (134±7.8 MPa), followed by the light-cured resin reinforced glass ionomer cement (168±8.5 MPa and 92±6.6 MPa, respectively) after one day of storage in distilled water. After being stored for 30 days, all specimens showed an increase in compressive strength. Aging showed no effect on the compressive fatigue limit of the resin-based composite and the light-cured resin reinforced glass ionomer cement, however, the conventional glass ionomer cements showed a drastic decrease (37% for IG, 31% for CF) in compressive fatigue limit. In conclusion, in the present study, resin modified GIC and resin-based composite were found to have superior mechanical properties to conventional GIC.