Influence of hydroxyethyl acrylamide addition to dental adhesive resin.

OBJECTIVE: to determine the physicochemical properties of experimental adhesive resins containing hydroxyethyl acrylamide.

METHODS: Three groups of experimental resin were formulated, GHEAA33% (33.3wt% HEAA+66.6wt% BisGMA), GHEAA50% (50wt% HEAA+50wt% BisGMA), and GHEAA-FREE (33.3wt% HEMA+66.6wt% of BisGMA). The polymerization process of each adhesive resin group, as well as for the homopolymers, BisGMA, HEMA, HEAA, HEMA* without EDAB, and HEAA* without EDAB, was characterized through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Elution of monomers was evaluated by (1)H NMR. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to collect the glass transition temperature (Tg), the storage modulus (E') and the reticulation degree (ρ). Flexural strength was calculated by three-point bending test with 0.75mm/min. Softening in solvent was calculated through hardness before and after immersion in water or ethanol.

RESULTS: GHEAA50%, GHEAA33%, GHEAA-FREE presented higher polymerization rate ( [Formula: see text] , 12.3 and 5.3mmolg(-1)s(-1), respectively) than homopolymers HEMA, HEMA* and HEAA*. Group with HEAA presented higher degree of conversion (GHEAA50%=64.07%>GHEAA33%=55.82%>GHEAA-FREE=49.02%; p=0.008) All groups presented low elution of monomers (p>0.05). The values of E' were higher on GHEAA33% than GHEAA-FREE (p=0.034). Tg and flexural strength values of GHEAA-FREE were higher than acrylamide groups (p=0.022 and p<0.001, respectively). Hardness varied from 27.05 to 34.78 for water and from 63.27 to 68.51 for ethanol with no difference for ρ values.

SIGNIFICANCE: The addition of HEAA increased the materials reactivity and, consequently, improved the maximum rate of polymerization, degree of conversion and the storage modulus of experimental adhesive resin.