ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine whether pH and time has any influence on the degradation behavior of composite restoration by analyzing the leached monomers of dental composites qualitatively and quantitatively after storage in acetate buffer solution as a function of time using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) / mass spectrometer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three commercial composite restorative resin materials (Z-250, Heliomolar and Aeliteflo) with different matrix structure and filler composition were studied. Thirty specimens (7mm diameterx2mm thick) of each material were prepared. The cured materials were stored in acetate buffer solution at different pH (4, 7) for 1, 7 and 45days. As a reference, samples of unpolymerized composite materials of each product were treated with methanol (10 mg/ml). Identification of the various compounds was achieved by comparison of their mass spectra with those of reference compound, with literature data, and by their fragmentation patterns. Data were analysed statistically using ANOVA and Duncan's test. RESULTS: 1. Amounts of leached TEGDMA in Aeliteflo were significantly larger than those of UDMA in Z-250 and Heliomolar at experimental conditions of different storage time and pH variation (p 0.05).