Development of low-shrinkage dental adhesives via blending with spiroorthocarbonate expanding monomer and unsaturated epoxy resin monomer

Polymerization shrinkage is one of the main drawbacks of dental resin adhesives. In this study, spiroorthocarbonate expanding monomer 3,9-diethyl-3,9-dimethylol -1,5,7,11-tetraoxaspiro-[5,5] undecane (DDTU) and unsaturated epoxy resin monomer Diallyl bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DBDE) were synthesized and utilized as anti-shrinkage-coupling additive of methacrylate-based adhesives. Polymerization process and physicochemical properties including double bond conversion, polymerization shrinkage, compatibility, mechanical performance, thermal stability, contact angle, shear bond strength and cytotoxicity were characterized. Results indicated that adhesives containing anti-shrinkage-coupling additive had reduced volume shrinkage, improved compatibility and enhanced shear bond strength. When the amount of additive was 20 wt%, the volume shrinkage was decreased by 45.8% (4.17 ± 0.32%) and the shear bond strength was increased by 49.6% (19.64 ± 0.99 MPa). The results also showed that the use of additive had no adversely affect on double bond conversion and cytotoxicity. Therefore, novel low-shrinkage resin adhesives were prepared via blending with spiroorthocarbonate expanding monomer and unsaturated epoxy resin monomer.