In Vitro Surface Antibacterial Properties of Provisional Cements

Objectives: To examine the antibacterial properties of four different temporary dental luting cements against Streptococcus mutans. The temporary dental luting cements which were used : TempBond, TempBond NE, FreeGenuol, Q Temp. Methods: Using Direct Contact Test (DCT), Samples of each material were placed on sidewalls of eight wells in a 96 microtiter plate. After setting, freshly grown cells (1X106) were placed on the surface of each sample for 45 min at 37°C. Fresh medium was then added to each well and microbial growth was followed for 24hrs in a temperature-controlled spectrophotometer. The temporary cements were examined immediately after setting, and after aging periods of 1, 2, 3, 14 days and 3 month. Agar Diffusion Test (ADT) was preformed by measuring the Halo created around samples of provisional cements that were put in uniform wells punched in agar plates then covered with microorganism suspension and incubated for 24 hours. 1-way ANOVA was preformed. correlation to the Direct Contact Test results was examined. Results: For DCT: TempBond, TempBond NE and FreeGenuol were exhibited stronger antibacterial characteristics compared to Q Temp up to 72 hours of examination. However after 2 weeks and after 3 month TempBond showed the lowest antibacterial characteristics.The higher correlation was found to be for FreeGenuol for which the strongest antibacterial characteristics were exhibited. For ADT: A high correlation between the tests was found to be for Q Temp for which the lowest antibacterial characteristics were exhibited. TempBond and TempBond NE showed low correlation between the tests. Conclusions: According to this study all types of temporary cements tested showed antibacterial properties at different levels. None of which showed bactericidal properties. It is not possible to determine which of the cements shows the higher bacteriostatic properties. 11-->