Caracterização de selantes resinosos contendo micropartículas poliméricas carregadas com clorexidina

Abstract

Sealants represent a highly used measure in the prevention of caries and are indicated for patients at high risk for dental caries, especially when there is presence of teeth with deep, narrow and retentive fissures. Chlorhexidine (CHX) is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent that can bring benefits to sealants. This study will be presented in two chapters, whose objectives were: Chapter 1) To develop and characterize polymeric microparticles loaded with CHX; and Chapter 2) To evaluate the effect of incorporation of CHX, in free and microencapsulated forms, in the physicochemical properties of resin sealants. Material and methods: 1) Polymer microparticles of Poly(lactide-co-glycolide acid) (PLGA) loaded with diacetate (DA) and CHX digluconate (DG) were prepared using the spray drying technique and characterized in terms of stability, production yield, particle size, morphology, efficiency encapsulation (EE), drug loading (DL), cumulative release and antimicrobial response. 2) Two types of CHX (DA or DG), in respective free form 1 and 2%, or microencapsulated form 5 and 10% were added to the resin sealant with fluoride, Bioseal® (BI), or to the experimental sealant (EX) without fluoride. After obtaining the sealants formulations, tests were conducted to evaluate degree of conversion of the monomers, CHX release in dissolution media and fluoride release. Statistical analysis was performed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) Two-way, followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test. In all tests the level of confidence was 95% (p <0.05). Results: 1) The stability of drug in solution was detected for 50 days. The highest yield of production was observed with DA (over 71.56%). The particle size ranged from 1.01 to 3.07 µm, presenting homogeneous, spherical and non-aggregated microparticles. The microencapsulation process showed EE in the range of 4.42 to 36.67%, and DL between 0.26 and 4.07% amoung the formulations. It was observed a controlled release pattern. After the microbiological analysis, in vitro, DA and DG microparticles inhibited Streptococcus mutans. 2) In degree of conversion test, the mean values varied from the lowest DC for BI-PDG10 (69.74%) to the highest DC for EX-DG2 (77.69%). In the sealants containing free CHX (either DG or DA), the release was discrete from the first 6 h, except for EX-DG1 and EX-DA2 groups. In the experimental sealant, the highest release was detected in EX-PDA5 (22.91%), while EX-PDG5 (8.00%) and EX-PDG10 (8.99%) presented the lowest releases (p<0.001). In the fluoride release test, BI-DA1 showed the highest release when compared to the other sealants that contained free CHX (p<0.01). In the sealants containing CHX loaded PLGA-microparticles, the highest fluoride release was detected from BI-PDA5 (p<0.01). Conclusion: The characterization of microparticles loaded with CHX resulted in different release profiles. Addition of free or microencapsulated CHX into sealants affected the DC, depending on the type of CHX and sealant. Resin sealants containing free CHX released a large amount at the beginning of the study. Sealants containing microparticles showed a slow and gradual release. The fluoride release was higher in sealants that contained microparticles compared to the control.