Investigation of the radiopacity and cytotoxicity of Albo-Dent - novel strontium carbonate incorporated calcium silicate based dental cement

Abstract

Introduction: Calcium silicate (CS) dental cements have numerous clinical indications in dentistry including pulp capping, root end surgery, perforation repair and apexification/apexogenesis treatment. Materials and methods: Novel CS based dental cement with incorporation of SrCO3 radiopacifier named ALBO-DENT was used as an experimental cement material while Portland cement (Aalborg, Denmark) and ProRoot MTA (Tulsa Dental, USA) were used as controls. The radiopacity evaluation was performed using digital Trophy Radiographic system with an intention to precisely determine the minimum of radiopaque agent needed to confer to ISO radiopacity requirement. Thereafter, biocompatibility of material was tested in in vitro conditions in mouse fibrosarcoma L929 cell culture treated with materials' extracts. Cell morphology was observed using phase-contrast microscopy, while cell viability was measured using crystal violet (CV) and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays. Results: Radiopacity evaluation revealed that 30%wt addition of SrCO3 was necessary to achieve satisfactory radiopacity (3.45 mm Al). Cytotoxicity analysis using CV and MTT assays revealed that pure extracts of ALBO-DENT presented superior biocompatibility when compared to PC and MTA controls while serial dilutions of experimental cements' extracts as well as that of PC and MTA did not influence L929 cell viability. Conclusions Novel formulation of CS cement - ALBO-DENT presented satisfactory radiopacity and adequate biocompatibility.

Keywords

• calcium silicate
• strontium carbonate
• radiopacity
• dental materials biocompatibility
• endodontics