Facile and tunable synthesis of AgCl nanocubes and Ag/AgCl nanocomposites for dental applications

Abstract

In dentistry, continuous efforts have been made to improve restorative materials so that they more closely match the physical properties of the tooth. A major issue still present in currently available restorative materials, is that there is no mechanism present within the restoration to prevent the formation of a secondary infection once the restoration has been placed. The incorporation of antibacterial agents into commercially available restorative materials is something that has previously been trialled, but has not resulted in the development of a commercial product.1-4 We incorporated silver chloride (AgCl) nanomaterials into commercially available glass ionomer cements (GIC) in order to reduce the formation of bacterial biofilms on and around the dental restorations. AgCl was chosen due to its white colour and for the fact that it contains Ag+ ions, a well-known antimicrobial agent to which bacteria have not developed a resistance. This was achieved by first investigating possible methods for the synthesis of AgCl nanoparticles, followed by fine tuning these methods to optimise the antibacterial activity of the nanoparticles by reducing their size and increasing their overall surface area. By optimising the antibacterial, the amount of material required to be added to the GICs to impart the desired antimicrobial effect will be reduced, making incorporation of the particles less likely to affect the physical properties of the GICs. The antibacterial and physical properties of the AgCl-modified GICs were then tested to determine if these modifications had resulted in an improved product.