Monomer permeability of disposable dental gloves

Statement of problem. Studies have suggested that monomers may be able to permeate dental gloves. Purpose. This study examined the permeability of disposable dental gloves to 6 kinds of dental monomers. Material and methods. The permeability of 6 kinds of dental monomers (methyl methacrylate [MMA], 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate [HEMA], triethyleneglycol methacrylate [TEGDMA], ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate [EGDMA], urethane dimethacrylate [UDMA], and Bis-glycidyl methacrylate [Bis-GMA]) through 5 kinds of dental gloves (latex, powder-free latex, coated latex, polychloroprene, and polyvinyl chloride) was examined for up to 180 minutes at 37degreesC. The fingers of unused gloves without pin holes were cut and used in the experiments. Five specimens per test group were examined. One type of monomer was poured into each finger and dipped in ethanol. The ethanol for extraction was measured by a spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 210 inn, and the results were analyzed by analysis of variance and the Kruskal-Wallis test (P<.05). Results. Four of the monomers tested (MMA, HEMA, TEGDMA, and EGDMA) permeated the gloves tested, whereas 2 (UDMA and Bis-GMA) did not (P>.01). The amount of monomers permeating the latex in 10 minutes was 0.8 +/- 0.6, 0.6 +/- 0.6, 0.07 +/- 0.1, 0.07 +/- 0.1, 0.1 +/- 0.1 and 0.06 +/- 0.1 muL/mL for MMA, HEMA, EGDMA, TEGDMA, UDMA, and Bis-GMA, respectively. The amount of permeated monomer was then increased in relation to the examination time, and in MMA and HEMA, permeation occurred rapidly during the initial 60 minutes at 3 times the 10-minute values, then continued gradually and linearly. The polyvinyl chloride glove showed the greatest monomer permeability. Two-way analysis of variance showed significant correlations between MMA, HEMA, EGDMA or TEGDMA and UDMA or Bis-GMA (P<.01). Statistical significance was shown between polyvinyl chloride and latex, powder-free latex, coated latex or polychloroprene (P<.01). However, there was no significant relation between any kind of dental monomer and any kind of dental glove. Conclusion. Within the limitations of this study, 4 of the monomers tested permeated all of the gloves tested.