Influence of Finishing/Polishing on Surface Roughness of Conventional Nanocomposites and Bulk-fill Composites

Objectives: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the influence of different finishing/polishing methods on the surface roughness of conventional and bulk-fill nanoparticulate composite resins.
Methods: Forty specimens of composite resin disks were divided into 4 groups (n=10). Surface roughness of the composite resins was evaluated according to the following finishing and polishing protocols: Control Group (CG) - diamond tip, (PD) Polishing discs, (AD) Abrasive discs and (FD) Felt disc + Polishing paste. Specimens were 2 mm thickness and 10 mm in diameter. Surface roughness (Ra) was evaluated using a rugosimeter in three different readings in different directions and the arithmetic means were calculated. For a statistical analysis, a One-Way ANOVA was used for surface roughness. Any significant differences were resolved using Test t and Student t test (α=.05).
Results: Regardless of the resin tested, there was a decrease in roughness by the different polishing systems compared to the Control Group (p<0.05). FD presented statistically greater roughness to the PD and AD (p<0.001). PD and AD obtained similar performance and presented the lowest values of roughness for both composites (p>0.05).
Conclusions: The different finishing/polishing methods influenced the surface roughness of both composites, both materials Sof-lex and Enhance resulted lower roughness values.