Effect of four commercial mouth rinses on the microhardness and solubility of a supra nanocomposite and a microhybrid composite: An in vitro study

The aim of this study was to compare and evaluate the effect of four commercially available mouth rinses on the microhardness and solubility of a newly introduced resin-composite namely Estelite® α with Filtek TM P60. The microhybrid and the supra-nano composites used in this study are Filtek TM P60 and Estelite® α respectively. A total of 108 (N) specimens (54 for each resin composite) were fabricated and were further divided into 4 subgroups according to the mouth rinse used as followssubgroup 1Listerine; subgroup 2Colgate Plax; subgroup 3-HiOra; sub-group 4Clohex Plus. Subgroup 5 consisted of the remaining 12 specimens which served as controls (distilled water). Change in the microhardness and solubility of both the resin composites were determined after exposure to all the five test solutions. For microhardness, intra-group comparison showed significant reduction in the microhardness in all the subgroups in both the tested resin-composites (p < 0.001). Inter-group comparison showed that the difference in microhardness between the groups was statistically significant only for Colgate Plax (p < 0.001) and HiOra (p < 0.05). For solubility, maximum solubility was presented by Listerine and minimum by HiOra in both the resin-composites. Inter-group comparison showed that the difference in the solubility of the two resin-composites was statistically significant only for HiOra (p < 0.05). Specimens tested in distilled water did not show any significant change for both the tested parameters (p > 0.05). Following conclusions can be drawn from the present study(1) All the mouth rinses used in the study, irrespective of the presence or absence of alcohol reduced the microhardness of both the tested resincomposites. (2) Alcohol content is not the only factor in mouth rinses that can degrade materials. (3) Alcohol-free mouth rinses may be preferable to alcohol containing mouth rinses in patients with extensive restorations.