Polymerization shrinkage evaluation in experimental dental composite filled with montmorillonite nanoparticles

Abstract

This study aimed to develop experimental dental restorative composites by the addition of montmorillonite (MMT) nanoparticles in a polymeric matrix-based BisGMA/TEGDMA, to assess the possibility of a different dimensional behavior during the photo-polymerization. The characterization of experimental composites was established with the following analyses: thermal–mechanical analysis (TMA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy. Data for TMA were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey test (p\0.05). It was observed that the experimental composites filled with MMT nanoparticle showed statistically similar polymerization shrinkage values (by TMA analysis) in the concentration of 30% and statistically lower polymerization shrinkage values in the concentration of 50%, compared to composites filled with barium glass (BG—control groups). These results may be related to the interaction polymeric matrix/MMT nanoparticles and the formation of nanocomposites, observed by XRD and TEM analyses.