Cure of Bulk Fill Composites with their recommended Curing Lights

Objectives: The objective of this work was to characterize the cure depth of dental bulk fill composites with the respective manufacturers’ and other curing lights.
Methods: Cure depth measurements (n=3) were made according to ISO 4049 with curing times per the manufacturers’ instructions. Bulk fill materials tested included Filtek^TM Bulk Fill posterior A3 (FBFP, 3M ESPE, 20s cure), Tetric EvoCeram Bulk Fill IVA (TECBF, Ivoclar-Vivadent, 10s cure) and Sonic Fill A3 (SF, Kerr, 20s cure). Curing devices used were the new Elipar^TM DeepCure-S (3M ESPE), Bluephase Style (Ivoclar-Vivadent) and Demi Ultra (Kerr).
Results: Composite / Curing Device / ISO Cure Depth (mm)
FBFP / Elipar DeepCure-S / 4,37 ± 0,06 ^A
FBFP / Demi Ultra / 4,20 ± 0,10 ^AB
FBFP / Bluephase Style / 4,17 ± 0,12 ^B
Sonic Fill / Elipar DeepCure-S / 3,57 ± 0,06 ^C
Sonic Fill / Demi Ultra / 3,50 ± 0,01 ^C
Sonic Fill / Bluephase Style / 3,30 ± 0,10 ^D
TECBF / Elipar DeepCure-S / 3,10 ± 0,10 ^E
TECBF / Demi Ultra / 3,20 ± 0,10 ^DE
TECBF / Bluephase Style / 2,87 ± 0,21 ^F

ANOVA analysis showed that at p<0.05, FBFP had statistically higher cure depth independent of the LED curing light, when cured according to manufacturers’ instructions. Data with the same superscript letter are statistically not different.
Conclusions: Only FBFP achieved 4mm cure depth according to ISO 4049 with all tested curing devices. Surprisingly, the multi-initiator TECBF (TPO, Ivocerin, camphorquinone) did not achieve 4mm ISO cure depth after the manufacturer’s recommended curing time, even with the corresponding multi-wavelength light Bluephase Style. Cure depth of TECBF was significantly higher when cured with the mono-wavelength Demi Ultra or Elipar DeepCure-S.