Antibacterial temporary restorative materials incorporating polyethyleneimine nanoparticles

Objectives:Temporary restorative materials (TRMs) often rapidly lose their dimensional stability and antibacterial properties after exposure to humidity and bacterial Infection. Quaternary ammonium polyethyleneimine (QPEI) nanoparticles (NP) are long-lasting, sta-ble, biocompatible, and nonvolatile antibacterial polymers. In the present study, we Incor-porated QPEI NP Into standard TRMs and examined their influence on dimensional stability and their ability to reduce bacterial leakage. Method and Materials: A modified split-chamber model was used in vitro to test calcium sulfate-based and zinc oxlde-eugenol-based TRMs (Coltosol and IRM, respectively). Both materials were tested with and without 2% wt/wt Incorporated QPEI NP for fluid and bacterial leakage. Results: The calcium sulfate-based TRM displayed the lowest mlcroleakage and highest antibacterial resistance. Two-way ANOVA analysis of the fluid transport test results showed that Incor-poration of 2% wt/wt QPEI NP significantly Increased the sealing ability of both TRMs (P< .01). Analysis of survival curves by the Kaplan-Meier method showed that the calcium sulfate-based TRM with 2% wt/wt QPEI NP survived the bacterial load significantly more effectively than did the zinc oxide-eugenol-based TRM (P< .0001). Conclusion: Incorporation of 2% w/w QPEI NP may prominently improve the sealability and the antibac-terial properties of TRMs. TRMs Incorporating antibacterial nanoparticles may be clinically advantageous for sealing the endodontic access cavity to avoid reinfection of the root canal system during endodontic treatment.