The Adhesion of Streptococcus sa/ivarius and Staphylococcus aureus to Five Dental Composite Resins

Resin composites are used for anterior esthetic restorative procedures. Breakdown areas between cavity preparations and restorative materials can provide potential sites of reinfection. Reducing the marginal breakdowns by using effective composite resins is important to reduce the amount of recurrent caries. Each composite type was analyzed for bacterial adherence after bacterial exposure by microscopically counting them after staining. The purpose of this experiment was to measure and observe the ability of Streptococcus sa/ivarius and Staphylococcus aureus to adhere to five different resin composites (APH, Charisma, Herculite, Silux, and Z-100) using an in vitro assay. It was found that there is a great ability for bacteria to colonize and adhere to resin composites after bacterial exposure. Furthermore, the amount of adherence varied at the same bacterial exposure time as well as over varying exposure times. The amount of bacterial adherence on a single composite sample was not uniform in adherence. The large standard deviations obtained from the bacterial counts indicated a large degree of variance of bacterial adhesion on a single composite resin for all the resins tested. The Z-1 00 composite had the most overall bacterial adherence, and the Herculite composite had the least adherence