Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part A (2024)

Background: Dental fillings play a crucial role in restorative dentistry, providing a solution for repairing damaged or decayed teeth. These fillings are subjected to various mechanical, chemical, and biological challenges within the oral environment, which can impact their longevity and performance. Understanding the physical characteristics of dental fillings at the nanoscale is essential for improving their design, durability, and biocompatibility.
Experimental procedures: The experimental procedures commenced with a meticulous evaluation of the mechanical characteristics, delving into parameters like hardness and compressive strength. Employing cutting-edge atomic force microscopy (AFM), we scrutinized various concentrations of incorporated nanomaterials, spanning from 0% to 7.5% by weight. This meticulous investigation sought to uncover how these nano-additives influenced the mechanical prowess of the composite.
Outcome: Among the various equipment’s and tools including AFM, the visual representations of the PMMA provided highly detailed account of the surface topography after incorporating nanomaterials and before it. Roughness, RMS, and average particle size are some of the surface related changes that we observed on the AFM images. This change was attained through effective incorporation of nano-oxides and expansion of the parts they take up.
Conclusion: The designing of nano-composites (PMMA-ZnO-MgO) for dental restoration applications has significantly led to the discovery of results-yielding samples, and the comprehensive analysis also proffers evidence on what has been obtained. Nanomaterials, when considered in the context of the pure polymer matrix, have a remarkable impact that contributes to the overall changes in as roughness, roughness rate, average root mean square (RMS) value, and average grain size. This enhancement reflects the contiguity between the concentration of pollutants and the nanomaterials in this case being the determinants of the characteristic shapes of the composites.