LAUSR

Abstract Nano Fast Cement, NFC, is a nanocomposite with short setting time for repairing root teeth canals as an alternative to Mineral Trioxide Aggregate. The downside of this new tooth restorative material is the poor workability and low strength. To overcome this issue, here we performed the cement hydration operation alongside poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA, with 0, 3, 6, and 9 wt%. Microstructure, setting time, workability, mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and radiopacity of the prepared samples were studied by different examinations. The resultants have shown PVA considerably improves the workability, compressive, and flexural strength of NFC. Compared to NFC, a combination of NFC/PVA in optimum condition (PVA content of 3 wt%) enhanced the workability and compressive strength by 5.5 times and 62%, respectively. The increase in strength is due to the decrease of porosities and the formation of a polymer layer within the nanocement matrix. Interestingly, PVA has caused a slight increase in the setting time and that the workability improvement has been due to this increase. The MTT examination indicated that combination of NFC/PVA is biocompatible. The results showed that using PVA has no significant impact on the radiopacity property of the NFC, and the NFC/PVA mixture satisfied the minimum requirements specified by ISO 6876.