Effect of Silver Nanoparticles on Resin Modified Glass–ionomer Properties

Objectives: Improving mechanical strength of resin-modified glass–ionomer cement material while preserving its favorable clinical properties such as fluoride release, bonding to tooth structure and biocompatibility is desirable.
Methods: In this study, nanoparticles of silver powder (NAg) of 0.1 and 1% by weight percent were added into the resin modified glass ionomer powder. Resin-modified glass–ionomer cement (RMGIC) without nanoparticles of silver (NAg) addition was used as the control. The effects of nanoparticles of silver powder (NAg) addition on shear bond strength, flexural strength, compression strength, tensile strength and fracture toughness were measured by using a Lloyd universal testing machine. The recorded values of shear bond strength, flexural strength, compression strength, tensile strength in (MPa) and fracture toughness in (MPa.m^1/2) were collected, tabulated and statistically analyzed. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s tests were used for testing the significance between the means of tested properties of all tested materials which statistically significant when the P value ≤ 0.05.
Results: Adding nanoparticles of silver (NAg) into the resin modified glass ionomer led to significantly higher shear bond strength, flexural strength, compression strength tensile strength and fracture toughness. These results indicate that nanoparticles of silver (NAg) added to resin-modified glass–ionomer cement has a potential as a reliable restorative material with improved shear bond strength, flexural strength, compression strength tensile strength and fracture toughness.
Conclusions: It was concluded that, the addition of spherical nanoparticles of silver powder (NAg) to RMGIC powder increase the shear bond strength, flexural strength, compression strength, tensile strength and fracture toughness.