Band cementation materials: solubility and fluoride release.

<bold>Purpose: </bold>The aim of this study was to evaluate the solubility and the fluoride release of different materials used for orthodontic band cementation in different solutions and at different times.<bold>Materials and Methods: </bold>Three materials were selected: Ultra Band-Lok (UBL); RelyX (RLX) and Ketac-Cem (KTC). Sixteen standard samples from each material were prepared, according to the manufacturers' instructions. The samples were stored in two different solutions (n = 8): 0.9% saline solution (pH 7.0) and 0.1 mol/l lactic acid (pH 4.0). The storage solutions were changed after 24 h and after 7, 15 and 30 days. The fluoride release was determined with an ion-specific electrode (Analion). For the solubility evaluation, the formula Wsl = (m1-m2)/V was used to determine the loss of mass. Data were submitted for statistical analysis using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test.<bold>Results: </bold>With respect to the solubility, immersion in lactic acid increased the solubility when compared with saline solution (P < 0.01). In both the solutions, there were differences among materials (P < 0.01) with the following rankings: UBL < RLX < KTC for lactic acid and UBL < RLX < KTC for saline solution. The ranking of fluoride release was UBL < KTC < RLX. In the two tested solutions, RLX exhibited the highest fluoride release (P < 0.01), whereas KTC showed more fluoride release than that of UBL (P < 0.05). Fluoride release decreased over time and the storage solution influenced the fluoride-releasing capacity of some materials.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>It was found that fluoride release was influenced by storage solution, materials and immersion time. Materials and storage solution were the significant factors for solubility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]