Tooth colored dental restorative materials: Porosities and surface topography in relation to bacterial adhesion

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to determine whether differences in initial bacterial accumulation on dental restorations could be explained by differences in surface topography, particularly porosities, of the materials. A point counting method was used to determine the number and the size of the porosities in 15 materials. The results demonstrated great variation among the materials in the number of porosities. However, in vitro bacterial adhesion tests failed to show any relationship between porosities in the materials and the number of bacteria adhering to them. Nor were differences in surface topography, as measured profilometrically, associated with differences in bacterial adhesion. It is concluded that variations in surface topography including porosities do not suffice to explain differences in initial bacterial accumulation on silicate cements and composite dental restoratives.