The sol-gel methodology affords mesoporous silica with controlled pore size. The resulting materials can be used to incorporate, immobilize, or encapsulate several molecules for further application as drug delivery systems, antibacterials, and photonic devices, just to mention a few examples. Dental resins employed in tooth repair consist of an organic matrix, a charged inorganic component, and union agents; a photoinitiator triggers resin polymerization. In this work, we incorporated the photoinitiator camphorquinone or the anesthetic ethyl 4-aminobenzoate into mesoporous silica. Characterization of the materials by infrared and electronic spectroscopy, thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and specific surface area confirmed the presence of the photoinitiator or the anesthetic in the silica matrix. Kinetic and equilibrium assays as well as absorption studies showed that the mesoporous silica obtained here can be applied as a drug delivery system. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.