Tannic acid speeds up the setting of mineral trioxide aggregate cements and improves its surface and bulk properties

Naji Kharouf (1, 2) , Jihed Zghal (3, 4, 5) , Frédéric Addiego (6) , Manon Gabelout (7) , Hamdi Jmal (3) , Youssef Haïkel (1, 2) , Nadia Bahlouli (3) , Vincent Ball (1, 2)

1 Faculté de chirurgie dentaire - Strasbourg
2 BB - Biomatériaux et Bioingénierie
3 ICube - Laboratoire des sciences de l'ingénieur, de l'informatique et de l'imagerie
4 LEME - Laboratoire Energétique Mécanique Electromagnétisme
5 IUT de Ville-d'Avray
6 LIST - Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology
7 Itena Clinical - R&D/Innovation [Villepinte]

Hypothesis: The setting time and mechanical properties of cements are a major technical concern for a long time in civil engineering. More recently those practical problems became a major concern for biomedical applications -in bone surgery and in dentistry- in particular concerning the setting time which should be minimized. The possibility to add organic additives to interact with the different constituting ions in cements constitutes a way to modify the setting kinetics. We made the assumption that a hydrolysable polyphenol like tannic acid could modify the setting time and the physical properties of Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA). Experiments: Tannic acid is added in variable proportions to the water used to set MTA. The formation of the hybrid organic-mineral cements is investigated using a combination of structural, chemical and mechanical methods. X-ray tomography was also used to investigate the changes in porosity and pore size distribution upon incorporation of tannic acid in MTA based cements. The hydrophilicity of the cements was evaluated by measuring the permeation kinetics of small water droplets. Findings: We found that tannic acid allowed to reduce markedly the setting time of MTA based cements. The obtained cements have an increased hydrophilicity and display excellent resistance to compression. The number of pores but not the average pore size is also affected. The possible roles of tannic acid in modifying the cement properties are discussed.

Mots clés: Mechanical properties; Mineral trioxide aggregate; Natural additives; Setting time; Tannic acid; X-ray tomography.

Domaines: Biomatériaux

Naji Kharouf, Jihed Zghal, Frédéric Addiego, Manon Gabelout, Hamdi Jmal, et al.. Tannic acid speeds up the setting of mineral trioxide aggregate cements and improves its surface and bulk properties. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2021, 589, pp.318-326. ⟨10.1016/j.jcis.2020.12.115⟩. ⟨hal-03115519⟩