Enhancing bisphenol a glycerolate dimethacrylate/triethylene glycol dimethacrylate dental composite resins with boron nitride submicron tubes

Abstract Boron nitride submicron tubes (BNST) have excellent mechanical properties and oxidation resistance and have been used as an inorganic filler to reinforce polymers. This study presents the first incorporation of BNST into dental composite resins, aiming to utilize its superior mechanical properties to enhance the material's mechanical performance. In this study, BNST was used to reinforce the dental composite resin based on bisphenol a glycerolate dimethacrylate (Bis‐GMA) and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA). The resulting composite resins, denoted as the x‐BNST@Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA, where x refers to the mass fraction of BNST in Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA, exhibited superior flexural strength (FS), elastic modulus (EM), compression strength (CS), and vickers hardness (VH) when an adequate amount of BNST was present. Specifically, the addition of 0.2 wt% BNST into Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA improved the FS, EM, and CS by 24.12%, 39.57%, and 21.03% to 102.86 ± 1.52 MPa, 2142.96 ± 65.49 MPa, and 384.41 ± 7.88 MPa, respectively. Both the biosafety and the depth of cure of 0.2‐BNST@Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA met international standards, and a tooth repair experiment proved that it was an excellent material for restorative dentistry. The strong interfacial compatibility between BNST and Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA was key to the observed enhancement. Highlights The x‐BNST@Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA was prepared. 0.2‐BNST@Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA had the best mechanical properties. The x‐BNST@Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA was biosafe.