Peter M. Margetis

Oral tissue response to chemical adhesives (cyanoacrylates)

Abstract A family of chemical substances known as cyanoacrylates has demonstrated the ability to adhere to moist, living tissues and to produce immediate hemostasis. The methyl, ethyl, propyl, and butyl cyanoacrylates were compared grossly and histologically on wounds created in rat tongues. The methyl group was least desirable, whereas the butyl group exhibited desirable qualities for possible future clinical application.

Oral surgery--oral pathology conference No. 18, Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Application of a new chemical adhesive in periodontic and oral surgery.

Abstract The present study deals with the clinical use of butyl cyanoacrylate (a chemical adhesive) as a periodontal and surgical dressing in man. The study, conducted in 105 patients in whom a total of 276 applications were made, reveals the following: 1. Butyl cyanoacrylate is a far better periodontal dressing than any in use at the present time. This conclusion is based on the fact that it is applied with great ease, is a hemostatic agent, is not bulky and therefore permits the use of prostheses, can be used around single teeth, reduces postoperative pain, usually requires only one application, does not induce overabundant granulation, and accelerates the healing process. 2. When applied on extraction sites, it produces immediate hemostasis. 3. Over large areas of mucosal ulceration produced in recurrent aphthae and leukemia, application of this adhesive produces transitory relief from pain and discomfort.

Effect of butyl cyanoacrylate on the healing of extraction wounds

Abstract This histologic study was conducted to determine the effect of butyl cyanoacrylate on the healing of extraction wounds. Ninety-six upper first molars were extracted in forty-eight adult rats. Half of the wounds were covered with a spray of butyl cyanoacrylate, while the other half were left uncovered. When animals were killed from 1 to 21 days postoperatively, it was found that the wounds protected with the cyanoacrylate spray consistently showed less inflammatory infiltrate than the control wounds. In addition, it appears that collagenization and epithelization probably occur faster in these treated wounds than in the control wounds. It is postulated that this material should be a valuable aid in the prevention of the so-called “dry socket.”

Tissue response of rat tongue to hexyl, heptyl, and octyl cyanoacrylate

Abstract This study deals with the tissue response of the incised rat tongue to three chemical adhesives—hexyl, heptyl, and octyl cyanoacrylates. Sixty-three rats were divided into three groups, their tongues were incised and approximated with these materials, and the animals were killed 1, 3, 5, 10, 14, 21, and 30 days postoperatively. Histologic analysis revealed the following: 1. 1. The tissue receptivity of the three adhesive materials was almost identical. 2. 2. The hexyl, heptyl, and octyl cyanoacrylates did not appear to be superior to the butyl cyanoacrylate. 3. 3. The rat tongues, showed the normal healing process, and the adhesive material was gradually removed from the site of application. This removal was brought about partly by sequestration and partly by phagocytosis. The material which persisted in the tissues was completely surrounded by histiocytes and foreign body giant cells.

Tissue Response to a Dental Cement Containing Butyl Cyanoacrylate

Tissue response to a mixture of butyl cyanoacrylate and calcium sulfate hemihydrate which polymerizes in the presence of saliva and forms a hard mass. In rat connective tissue, it produced a response which was comparable with the response to zinc oxide and eugenol.

Properties of n-Butyl-α-Cyanoacrylate Mixtures:

Properties of filled n-butyl-α-cyanoacrylates were studied as a function of filler-monomer ratio, time, and curing conditions. Matrix characteristics were determined on amine initiated bulk polymer. Calcium carbonate and mixtures of zinc oxide and zinc phosphate formed reinforced materials with low solubility and disintegration.

The treatment of split thickness skin graft donor sites using n-butyl and n-heptyl 2-cyanoacrylate

Summary 1.The split thickness skin graft donor sites of 40 patients were sprayed with n-butyl 2-cyanoacrylate (36 patients) and n-heptyl 2-cyanoacrylate (4 patients) as the local treatment to the donor sites. 2.This method of local treatment of the split thickness skin graft donor site when compared with plain fine mesh gauze offered a saving of time of the physician and nurses, allowed for a decreased loss of blood at the time of surgery, especially in patients with prolonged bleeding times, decreased the pain and discomfort to the patient, particularly during the first 48–72 hours post-operatively, did not seem to affect the incidence of wound infection, and required an approximately equal time to heal, Eighty-two per cent. of the patients treated with fine mesh gauze in addition to the cyanoacrylate preferred the cyanoacrylate method of local treatment of split thickness skin graft donor sites. 3.Biopsies were obtained from the healed split thickness skin graft donor sites of 20 (50 per cent.) patients. In 6 of these, cyanoacrylate polymer implants were found in the dermis with the size of the particles ranging from 16 to 160 microns. Because of this and the results of Oppenheimer and co-workers, it is felt that these materials are probably not carcinogenic in humans. However, until such time as they are proven so, or until there is a method to prevent incorporation of implants, or until a more rapidly degradable polymer is developed, their use in elective surgery is not indicated.

Digestive tract absorption of alkyl α-cyanoacrylate-β-14C

Abstract Absorption and assimilation of methyl and n -butyl α-cyanoacrylate-β-14C was evaluated in the digestive tract of the rat. By evaluating the urine for carbon-14, it was demonstrated that there is absorption of monomer and/or polymer degradation products of cyanoacrylate when applied as a monomer and allowed to polymerize on the oral mucosa. It was also demonstrated that if these materials in polymer form were to be inadvertently swallowed, degradation and assimilation of a significant percentage of the polymer would occur.