The performance and longevity of polymer composite dental restorative materials is still limited, primarily due to complications from shrinkage induced polymerization stresses. Other drawbacks involve a lack of toughness, thermal expansion mismatch, moisture uptake following polymerization, extractable, unreacted monomer following cure, and oxygen inhibition. Shrinkage induced stresses are primarily associated with the chain growth nature of the methacrylate-based free radical polymerization process that leads to high volume shrinkage and early gelation. Shrinkage stress is alleviated either by reducing the concentration of reactive methacrylate functional groups or delaying gelation during polymerization. We propose a radical shift in the polymerization mechanism from a chain growth polymerization to a mixed mode step-chain growth polymerization. This shift is achieved by the incorporation of a thiol-ene component as the reactive diluent, which has two distinct advantages. The thiol-ene polymerization mechanism results in lower volume shrinkage and delayed gelation. Additionally, we propose the incorporation of molecular fillers of controlled architecture and size. Appropriately fabricating, designing and incorporating molecular fillers will reduce the concentration of reactive groups and increase the filler loading beyond the present levels with corresponding mechanical property and shrinkage benefits. Since the reactive functionality is incorporated throughout the molecular filler rather than only at the surface, the molecular filler will be better integrated before polymerization, which prevents aggregation, and following polymerization, which improves toughness and other mechanical properties. Synergistically combining these two developments into a composite system will result in composite systems that exhibit both dramatically reduced shrinkage and stress and improved mechanical properties.
These aims are predicated on the hypothesis that appropriate materials synthesis and design coupled with optimization of the polymerization mechanism will lead to enhanced polymeric dental composites with respect to shrinkage stress, composite mechanical properties, polymerization speed (or reduction in the initiator content), moisture uptake, reduced extractables and improved biocompatibility. Results to date have already demonstrated a higher double bond conversion, lower volume shrinkage induced stress, improved mechanical properties, and near elimination of oxygen inhibition.

Public Health Relevance

Because of the widespread use of esthetic composite dental restorative materials, significant improvements in their reliability and performance will have a very broad and positive effect on the oral health of the general public. Improvements in these materials to date have been driven by modifications in the filler phase where this application addresses the continuing deficiencies of the polymer phase through a novel chemistry approach.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DE018233-02
Application #
7672372
Study Section
Oral, Dental and Craniofacial Sciences Study Section (ODCS)
Program Officer
Drummond, James
Project Start
2008-08-11
Project End
2012-06-30
Budget Start
2009-07-01
Budget End
2010-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$357,569
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Colorado at Boulder
Department
Engineering (All Types)
Type
Schools of Engineering
DUNS #
007431505
City
Boulder
State
CO
Country
United States
Zip Code
80309
Wydra, James W; Cramer, Neil B; Stansbury, Jeffrey W et al. (2014) The reciprocity law concerning light dose relationships applied to BisGMA/TEGDMA photopolymers: theoretical analysis and experimental characterization. Dent Mater 30:605-12
Cole, Megan A; Jankousky, Katherine C; Bowman, Christopher N (2014) Thiol-ene functionalized siloxanes for use as elastomeric dental impression materials. Dent Mater 30:449-55
Cole, Megan A; Jankousky, Katherine C; Bowman, Christopher N (2013) Redox Initiation of Bulk Thiol-Ene Polymerizations. Polym Chem 4:1167-1175
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Cole, Megan A; Bowman, Christopher N (2012) Synthesis and Characterization of Thiol-Ene Functionalized Siloxanes and Evaluation of their Crosslinked Network Properties. J Polym Sci A Polym Chem 50:4325-4333
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Schreck, Kathleen M; Leung, Diana; Bowman, Christopher N (2011) Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Thiol-ene-Based Photopolymerized Networks. Macromolecules 44:7520-7529
Ye, Sheng; Cramer, Neil B; Smith, Ian R et al. (2011) Reaction Kinetics and Reduced Shrinkage Stress of Thiol-Yne-Methacrylate and Thiol-Yne-Acrylate Ternary Systems. Macromolecules 44:9084-9090
Cramer, N B; Stansbury, J W; Bowman, C N (2011) Recent advances and developments in composite dental restorative materials. J Dent Res 90:402-16
Boulden, Jordan E; Cramer, Neil B; Schreck, Kathleen M et al. (2011) Thiol-ene-methacrylate composites as dental restorative materials. Dent Mater 27:267-72

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