In restorative dentistry, the increasing aesthetic and cosmetic demands of the patients and the preference of non-invasive procedures have made the use of composite materials widespread. These resin-containing materials contain various monomers in different proportions. These monomers are generally monomers such as propane (Bis-GMA), urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA), 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) (3). Monomers are known to be effective on the cytotoxic effects of materials. Dental materials must be evaluated in terms of biological risks before their clinical use.
Different techniques and methods are used by researchers while investigating the cytotoxic effects of materials. In-vitro tests, compared to other biocompatibility tests; In vitro tests were also used in this study because they have important advantages such as being able to be concluded in a short time, being less costly than animal experiments or clinical use tests, being controllable and standardizable, and being well adapted to wide-ranging screening (15).
The presence of high levels of reactive radicals such as hydroxyl, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide, which occur because of normal aerobic metabolism reactions in cells, cause an increase in oxidative stress in cells and tissues and cause cellular damage (21). Oxidative stress is the condition that occurs when metabolic prooxidant production exceeds antioxidant capacity (22). Measurement methods based on oxidative stress appear to play an important role in determining the biocompatibility of a material. Therefore, oxidative stress measurement was performed in our study.
Experimental details such as sample preparation modes, curing conditions for mixed materials, aging of samples, and preparation of extracts in various solvents greatly influence the cytotoxic effects of dental materials in mammalian cell cultures (23). In a study (15), various aging periods after the curing of dental composite materials and variations of exposure periods of mammalian cell cultures were analyzed in terms of their effects on the cytotoxicity of material extracts and showed that cytotoxicity was independent of aging periods. In our study, aging was applied for 24 hours at 37 degrees.
This study was aimed to compare the effect of composites with different monomers and glass ionomer-based restorative materials on human fibroblasts in vitro. Although there are limited resources on this subject in the literature, it has not been fully revealed how the contents of the material create cytotoxic effects. Similar to the results found by Beltrami et al (24), Omnichroma group gave the least cytotoxic effect at low doses in our study. However, Dyract AP caused the least cell apoptosis at high doses. Also, more apoptosis was observed in high doses (100) groups than in low (50) groups. Among the experimental groups, the highest apoptosis value was Estelite P Quick (100), and the lowest value was Omnichroma (50). In addition to cell viability rates were highest in the control group, respectively, D50, E50, B50, A50, B100, D100, C50, F50, A100, E100, F100 and C100. Kamalak et al. (25) reported a correlation between filler content and cytotoxicity. According to the current literature, cytotoxicity increases as the amount of filler increases. In parallel with this result in our study, Estelite, which has the highest filling rate with 82%, also has the highest cytotoxicity Studies in the literature show that methacrylate-containing restorative materials are more cytotoxic. In our study, it was observed that Dyract AP, which has many different methacrylate group monomers, caused more cellular response and oxidative stress at the end of 24 h. After 48 hours, Filtek Z250 was found to cause the most cellular response and oxidative stress.
The results of our study should be supported by contact in vitro tests and in vivo tests in future studies. All the restorative materials with different contents and chemical structures used in our study have been shown to have cytotoxic effects on fibroblasts. However, their potential to cause chronic periodontal problems should be investigated by performing long-term tests.