Gabor Alin Gabriel, Duma Virgil-Florin, Fabricky Mihai M C, Marsavina Liviu, Tudor Anca, Vancea Cosmin, Negrea Petru, Sinescu Cosmin
Research Center in Dental Medicine Using Conventional and Alternative Technologies, School of Dental Medicine, "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Timisoara, 9 Revolutiei 1989 Ave., 300070 Timisoara, Romania.
3OM Optomechatronics Group, Faculty of Engineering, Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Str. Elena Dragoi No. 2, 310177 Arad, Romania.
Materials (Basel). 2022 Jul 14;15(14):4899. doi: 10.3390/ma15144899.
Bone scaffolds must fulfil numerous and sometimes contradictory characteristics: biocompatibility, bioactivity, high porosity, and appropriate mechanical strength. To tackle some of these issues, this study has several aims for the development of such scaffolds for dentistry applications: (i) to utilize appropriate materials (ceramics and sponges) and to introduce a novel, potentially performant ceramic material; (ii) to characterize the obtained scaffolds by using a range of methods; (iii) to compare and to correlate the assessment results with the scope to validate them reciprocally. There are two commercially available dental ceramics (i.e., Ceramco iC Natural Enamel (E) and Ceramco iC Natural Dentine (D), (DeguDent GmbH, Hanau-Wolfgang, Deutschland)) that are considered, as well as a new-developed porcelain (ceramic C). To obtain porous structures of scaffolds, each ceramic is introduced in two different sponges: a denser one, green (G) and a less dense one, blue (B). A total of 60 samples are manufactured and divided in six study groups, obtained by combining the above materials: GE, BE, GD, BD, GC, and BC (where the first letter represents the sponge type and the second one the utilized ceramic). Several methods are applied to characterize their chemical composition, as well as their macro- and micro-porosity: X-ray Diffraction (XRD), apparent porosity measurements, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and confocal microscopy (CM). The latter two methods image the inner (porous) and the outer/cortical (denser) areas of the samples. The results show a good porosity (i.e., dimensions and uniformity of pores) of around 65% for the final group BC, with satisfactory values of around 51% for BD and GC. A certain correlation is made between SEM, CM, and the apparent porosity results. The biocompatibility of the new ceramic C is demonstrated. Finally, a necessary trade-off is made with the mechanical strength of the obtained scaffolds, which was also evaluated. From this point of view, Group BD has the highest compressive strength of around 4 MPa, while Group BC comes second, with around 2 MPa. This trade-off between porosity and mechanical strength suggests a choice between Groups BC and BD, which are the best with regard to the porosity and mechanical strength criterium, respectively.
生物相容性、生物活性、高孔隙率以及适当的机械强度。为解决其中一些问题，本研究针对牙科应用中此类支架的开发设定了多个目标：（i）使用合适的材料（陶瓷和海绵）并引入一种新型的、可能性能良好的陶瓷材料；（ii）运用一系列方法对所得支架进行表征；（iii）比较并关联评估结果，以便相互验证。研究考虑了两种市售牙科陶瓷（即Ceramco iC天然牙釉质（E）和Ceramco iC天然牙本质（D），（德国哈瑙 - 沃尔夫冈的DeguDent GmbH公司））以及一种新开发的瓷器（陶瓷C）。为获得支架的多孔结构，每种陶瓷被引入两种不同的海绵中：一种较致密的绿色（G）海绵和一种密度较小的蓝色（B）海绵。总共制造了60个样本，并通过组合上述材料分为六个研究组：GE、BE、GD、BD、GC和BC（其中第一个字母代表海绵类型，第二个字母代表所使用的陶瓷）。应用了多种方法来表征它们的化学成分以及宏观和微观孔隙率：X射线衍射（XRD）、显气孔率测量、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和共聚焦显微镜（CM）。后两种方法对样本的内部（多孔）和外部/皮质（较致密）区域进行成像。结果表明，最终的BC组具有约65%的良好孔隙率（即孔隙尺寸和均匀性），BD组和GC组的孔隙率约为51%，令人满意。SEM、CM和显气孔率结果之间存在一定的相关性。新陶瓷C的生物相容性得到了证明。最后，对所得支架的机械强度进行了评估，并在强度方面进行了必要的权衡。从这一角度来看，BD组的抗压强度最高，约为4 MPa，而BC组位居第二，约为2 MPa。孔隙率和机械强度之间的这种权衡表明，在BC组和BD组之间进行选择，它们分别在孔隙率和机械强度标准方面表现最佳。
