RESUMEN
Glass ionomer cement (GIC) has the unique fluoride release property and able to form ionic bond with tooth structure. However, the brittleness of the material results in low hardness. In the present study, a new approach in utilization of local waste materials as fillers for improvement of hardness of GIC is reported. The synthesized wollastonite and mine-silica by-product were individually incorporated into commercial GIC and the Vickers hardness were evaluated. The results shown that the incorporation of 1 % wollastonite into GIC gave ~ 6 % increment in hardness compared to the control GIC (66.53HV ± 7.37 versus 62.66HV ± 2.98) but not for the mine-silica. Thus, wollastonite could be a potential material to be utilized as fillers in dental restorative composite.