Rubber dams employed for endodontic treatment are commonly based on natural rubber latex compounds and it is essential that they remain unbroken throughout the different procedures. The in-use failure of some types of rubber dams can be related to the time spent under tension in contact with saliva and/or to sodium hypochlorite. Five different types of commercial rubber dams were assessed with respect to physico-mechanical properties (crosslink density, stress at break, tear strength and stress relaxation), morphological aspects (Scanning Electron Microscopy), and elemental analyses (energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry). Moreover, a special bench apparatus was developed to mimic actual conditions of rubber dams during endodontic procedures. Results showed that the device performance was reliable and comparable to observations during clinical activity corroborated by the stress relaxation test. Samples based on sulfur curing system with predominance of accelerator has better performance under stress relaxation tests than those samples with higher concentration of sulfur.

用于牙髓治疗的橡胶坝通常基于天然橡胶胶乳化合物，因此必须确保它们在不同的过程中保持不破裂。某些类型的橡胶坝的使用失败可能与张力下与唾液和/或次氯酸钠接触所花费的时间有关。评估了五种不同类型的商业橡胶坝的物理机械性能（交联密度，断裂应力，撕裂强度和应力松弛），形态方面（扫描电子显微镜）和元素分析（能量色散X射线光谱法） ）。而且，开发了一种特殊的台架设备来模拟牙髓手术过程中橡胶坝的实际状况。结果表明，该设备性能可靠，可与应力松弛测试所证实的临床活动期间的观察结果相媲美。基于硫磺固化体系且具有促进剂优势的样品在应力松弛测试下的性能要优于含硫量较高的样品。