BULK FILL FLOW VS. BULK FILL RESINSIN PRIMARY TOOTH RESTORATIONS

Abstract: Introduction: Child patients require quick and simple techniques due to their shorter clinical times. Bulk fill resins with a photoactivation depth of up to 4 mm can help shorten the time needed for clinical work.Objective: Compare the necessary operative time, the difficulty of the technique, and the clinical performance of occlusal restorations in primary molars using high and low viscosity Bulk Fill resins.Methods: An experimental and longitudinal design approved by the FOUBA Ethics Committee (No. 019/2023). Three operators (Kappa >0.7) performed 67 restorations of lesions 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, and 2.2 (Mount and Humme/Lasfargues) in 54 patients (mean age 7.09 ± 1.95 years) using alternately high (n=30) and low (n=37) viscosity Bulk Fill resins (Filtek™ One Bulk Fill A2 and Filtek™ Bulk Fill Flowable A2, 3M™, respectively). Enamel etched for 30 seconds, and the Single Bond™ Universal adhesive system (3M ESPE) was applied, timing the time required to perform the restoration. The technique´s degree of difficulty was analyzed using a form with a Likert scale designed for this purpose. The restorations were clinically evaluated at 6 months according to the modified RYGE/USPHS criteria. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, 95% CI, Chi-square, and t-test (significance level 0.05). Results: The shutter time was 12.5 ± 5.9 seconds in BF and 6.4 ± 3.3 seconds in BFF (p=0.001), with a difference between means of 6.09 seconds (3.65-8.54). The manipulation difficulty was 2.33 ± 0.57 for BF and 1 for BFF. In the evaluation of clinical performance at 6 months, an alpha grade was obtained in the color parameter for 96% (90-103) for BF and 86% (75-97) for BFF, while for the anatomical shape parameter, there were 2 restorations with grade Bravo for BF and 4 for BFF. Only 2 restorations made with BF fractured, and 1 piece in the BFF group exfoliated. No Charlie grade restorations were recorded. No significant differences in clinical behavior were observed between the two groups (p>0.05).Conclusion: In this sample, the clinical behavior of the Bulk Fill resins was within acceptable parameters but with a significant decrease in operative time and a lower difficulty index when using the Flow variant. Longer-term evaluations will be needed.