Introduction and Aim: Cention N is an “alkasite” restorative material which utilizes an alkaline filler capable of releasing acid-neutralizing ions. These ions can be helpful in buffering the pH of the saliva, thus preventing carious activity. Hence this study was undertaken to investigate the buffering action of the Cention-N restorative material.

Materials and methods: Solutions of distilled water with pH values adjusted to approximately 5.5, 6.5 and 7 with lactic acid and sodium hydroxide were prepared. Disk-shaped specimens (2 mm thickness, 7 mm diameter) of Cention-N were made both in self cure and dual cure mode. These discs were exposed to 5 ml of these solutions after which pH of the solutions was measured at room temperature at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 minute intervals with a small electrode and pH meter. The data obtained was statistically analyzed using Independent Student t test and Repeated measures ANOVA. The level of significance was set 0.05.

Results: At all the tested pH levels and time intervals, there was an increase in the pH values in both self-cure and dual cure groups which was statistically significant. At the critical pH of 5.5, dual cured material performed better than self-cure but at 6.5 and 7 pH both groups performed comparably.

Conclusion: Cention N has the ability to buffer the solutions at both acidic and neutral pH values.