Effect of Mechanical Load Cycling on the Microleakage of the Mixture of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles and Flowable Composite: An in Vitro Study

Nanoparticles have been recently used in dentistry to improve the resin composite properties. In addition to its antimicrobial effect, copper oxide nanoparticles improve some of the resin composite properties. The durability of composite restorations is another matter. In this study, the effect of mechanical load cycling on the microleakage of the mixture of copper oxide nanoparticle and flowable composite was investigated.

In this study, 96 healthy premolar teeth were randomly divided into eight groups. Copper oxide nanoparticles with weight concentrations of 0.1% and 0.3% were added to the Z350 flowable composite, and occlusal pit and fissures were sealed. Mechanical loading cycling was performed with a force of 70 Newtons and repetition rates of 0, 50,000, 100,000, and 200,000 loads. The teeth were cut after staining with methylene blue, and the dye penetration was checked by a stereomicroscope and qualitatively scored. The data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests.

In both concentrations of nanoparticles, with an increasing number of load-cycling cycles, microleakage significantly increased. In the 0.1% group, the two-way comparisons of groups between 1 to 4, 1 to 3, and 2 to 4 and in the 0.3% groups between 5 to 7, 5 to 8, and 6 to 8 were significantly different. In the comparison of different concentrations to similar load cycling rates, there was no significant difference in the amount of microleakage.

Mechanical loading cycling increased the microleakage rate in both two concentrations when the frequency of load was higher than 50,000 loads. There was no difference in the microleakage rates of groups with different concentrations and similar load cycling. By increasing the concentration from 0.1% to 0.3%, microleakage did not increase significantly.