Composite pre-heating: Effects on marginal adaptation, degree of conversion and mechanical properties
I use a Calset to warm my composites. MJ
, c
Composite pre-heating: Effects on marginal adaptation, degree of conversion and mechanical properties
Dental Materials
Volume 26, Issue 9, Pages 908-914 (September 2010)
a, a, b, a, cAbstract
Objectives
This study evaluated the effect of composite pre-polymerization temperature and energy density on the marginal adaptation (MA), degree of conversion (DC), flexural strength (FS), and polymer cross-linking (PCL) of a resin composite (Filtek Z350, 3M/ESPE).
Methods
For MA, class V cavities (4
mm×
2
mm×
2
mm) were prepared in 40 bovine incisors. The adhesive system Adper Single Bond 2 (3M/ESPE) was applied. Before being placed in the cavities, the resin composite was either kept at room-temperature (25
°C) or previously pre-heated to 68
°C in the Calset™ device (AdDent Inc., Danbury, CT, USA). The composite was then light polymerized for 20 or 40
s at 600
mW/cm2 (12 or 24
J/cm2, respectively). The percentage of gaps was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, after sectioning the restorations and preparing epoxy resin replicas. DC (n
=
3) was obtained by FT-Raman spectroscopy on irradiated and non-irradiated composite surfaces. FS (n
=
10) was measured by the three-point-bending test. KHN (n
=
6) was measured after 24
h dry storage and again after immersion in 100% ethanol solution for 24
h, to calculate PCL density. Data were analyzed by appropriate statistical analyses.
Results
The pre-heated composite showed better MA than the room-temperature groups. A higher number of gaps were observed in the room-temperature groups, irrespective of the energy density, mainly in the axial wall (p
<
0.05). Composite pre-heating and energy density did not affect the DC, FS and PCL (p
>
0.05).
Significance
Pre-heating the composite prior to light polymerization similar in a clinical situation did not alter the mechanical properties and monomer conversion of the composite, but provided enhanced composite adaptation to cavity walls.
Comments