Synthesis of Fluorinated Urchin-like Serried Hydroxyapatite with Improved Water Sorption-Solubility and Bioactivity for Dental Composites

Fluorine is present in the hydroxyapatite mineral in natural tooth enamel, which plays a key role in the prevention of dental caries. The aim of this study is to synthetize the fluorinated urchin-like serried hydroxyapatite(FnUHA) particles with different degrees of fluorine substitution and explore the effect of the fluorine element on the water absorption-solubility, mechanical strength, and biological activity of dental composites. The obtained FnUHA particles were further modified with 3-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane(γ-MPS) to get the silanized FnUHA(SFnUHA) particles, which were then used as the reinforcement for dental composites. The morphology, compositional elements, and structure of the FnUHA were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), X-ray diffractometer(XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), respectively. The mechanical properties of the SFnUHA reinforced composites with different filler loadings were measured with a universal testing machine. The results demonstrated that the 50%(mass fraction) SF5UHA filled composite exhibited the acceptable flexural strength and compressive strength, giving the respective improvements of 56.3% and 30.8% compared with those of the 50% SUHA filled composite. In addition, this composite also presented lower water absorption-solubility, better in vitro bioactivity, and excellent cell viability. Therefore, fluorinated hydroxyapatite is a promising filler to improve the mechanical properties and functionality of dental composites.