Clinically Applicable Self-Healing Dental Resin Composites
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Clinically Applicable Self-Healing Dental Resin Composites George Huyang and Jirun Sun* Dr. Anthony Volpe Research Center, American Dental Association Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Dr., Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA ABSTRACT Self-healing is one of the most desired material properties. Herein, we present the design and development of a new self-healing dental composite (SHDC) that can heal micro-cracks autonomously. The SHDC has two functional components in addition to contemporary dental composites: healing powder (HP) and healing liquid (HL) encapsulated in silica microcapsules. The autonomous healing is triggered by micro-cracks which fracture microcapsules in their propagation path and release the HL. As a consequence, the released HL dissolves and reacts with the HP, and then fill the micro-cracks with a cement-like new material. This 3-step crackrelease-heal process prevents micro-cracks from causing restoration failure, thus improving the service life of dental restorative material. The mechanical performance of the SHDC prepared were evaluated in terms of elastic modulus and fracture toughness, which were in the upper level compared to commercial dental restorative materials, and the self-healing capability was confirmed through fracture toughness recovery test. In addition, the SHDCs were made with clinically-tested, biocompatible materials, which makes them readily applicable as medical devices. INTRODUCTION Composites used in dental applications, such as resin filler materials for cavities, are susceptible to micro-cracking brought on by thermal and mechanical stresses resulting from strong occlusal (chewing and clenching) forces, which may weaken the resin filler materials. If not repaired, the micro-cracks may propagate, leading to catastrophic failure of the filler materials. However, micro-cracks are difficult to detect, and even if detected, they cannot be repaired in situ using current methods and materials. Instead, repair usually requires complete replacement of the resin filler material. One solution to micro-cracking and other fractures of current dental composites is selfhealing, which are biomimetic models [1-3] of autonomic repair systems in living tissues that efficiently handle damage, for example, the healing of a broken bone. Inspired by natural biological systems, continuous efforts are being made to mimic natural materials and integrate self-healing capabilities into polymers and polymer composites. Self-healing has become one of the most desired properties in material development since the first autonomous crack-repair material was synthesized [4-7] by groups at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This progress has opened a new era of intelligent materials. [5, 8-16] Autonomic self-healing composites have shown significant enhancement in extending the service life of polymeric materials. [17, 18] Advances were made to repair cracks in dental resins with use of the monomer-catalyst self-healing model, [19-21] but concerns were raised
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