Solubility of Epiphany sealer prepared with resinous solvent

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the solubility of Epiphany cement, with 80% reduction in volume of the specimen's dimensions, based on ANSI/ADA Specification no. 57.

Methods: The specimens were prepared in different experimental conditions: GI- Epiphany without photopolymerization, GII- Epiphany prepared with thinning resin of Epiphany system without photopolymerization, GIII-Epiphany followed by photopolymerization and GIV- Epiphany prepared with thinning followed by photopolymerization. Ten specimens of each group (1.5-mm thickness and 7.75-mm diameter) were obtained from Teflon molds. Samples were weighted and immersed in distilled water for 7 days. After this period, they were removed, dried and weighed again. Solubility was calculated using samples weight loss (%). The immersion liquid was evaluated through atomic absorption spectrometry. For this purpose, capsules were burned at 550°C, weighted and 50ml of water was added in capsules. The specimens were submitted to 550°C and weighted again. The residues contained in capsules were diluted in distilled water to observe the presence of Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Ni and Na ions.

Result: Tukey test evidenced that the sealers without photopolymerization were statistically similar (p>0.05) between themselves (GI=6.93% and GII=6.39%) and different from the non-polymerized sealers, which were statistically different (p<0.001) (GIII=3.56% and GIV=0.47%). Only the Epiphany sealer prepared with thinning resin followed by photopolymerization had solubility values within ANSI/ADA requirements, liberating the following amounts of ions: 114.43 µg Ca/ml, 2.4 µg Mg/ml, 0.33 µg Fe/ml, 0.11 µg Zn/ml, 1.31 µg Ni/ml and 7.1 µg Na/ml.

Conclusion: The association of thinning resin to the Epiphany sealer followed by polymerization resulted in a cement with low solubility and expressive liberation of calcium ions.