Cytotoxicity of a BIS-GMA dental composite before and after leaching in organic solvents

Cell culture techniques were used to determine the source of cytotoxic agents in a commercial BIS‐GMA composite. The material was polymerized according to the manufacturer′s directions and leachable components were removed by room temperature extraction in ethanol, chloroform, or toluene. The leachable components in the extracts were identified using infrared spectrographic analysis. Thin layer chromatographic analysis was used to determine the number of constituents. These constituents were separated by gas chromatography and then identified by mass spectrographic analysis. Succinic dehydrogenase activity and radioactive labeling with tritiated leucine were used to evaluate cell metabolism and protein synthesis, respectively. The infrared analysis of the extracts showed that the primary component was unreacted BIS‐GMA. Trace amounts of 2‐hydroxy‐4‐methoxy‐benzophenone, a light stabilizer, as well as a phenyl ester of benzoic acid which was probably degraded from BIS‐GMA, were detected by the mass spectrographic method. The removal of leachable components caused a 90% decrease in toxicity compared to the nonextracted BIS‐GMA samples. The extracted BIS‐GMA samples showed no cellular response compared to the Teflon negative control.