Effect of the different finishing and polishing procedures on the surface roughness of three different posterior composite resins.

Objectives: To examine the effect of three different posterior composites on surface texture with various finishing and polishing procedures.
Methods: In this study, three different posterior composites were used: Filtek P60, Clearfil Majesty Posterior and Cavex Quadent Posterior Dense. These were used with a diamond finishing burr, a tungsten carbide burr and Sof-Lex discs. For each posterior composite, 15 metal molds were prepared, each 5 mm in diameter and 2 mm in depth. The surface smoothness of samples were measured at three separate points with a profilometer device and the values were recorded. In Group 1, a yellow band diamond burr. In Group 2, a 12-blade tungsten carbide burr. In Group 3, with thick, medium, fine, and super-fine Sof-Lex discs. The smoothness of the surfaces of the samples was measured with the same profilometer, the values were recorded, and the mean surface smoothness values (Ra) were calculated. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied for statistical analysis
Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the composite resins with respect to surface smoothness when evaluated with an ANOVA (p > 0.05). A statistically significant difference was found between the groups according to the Kruskal‑Wallis variance analysis applied to the diamond, carbide, and Sof-Lex groups (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Sof-Lex polishing system was more successful than the diamond and carbide burrs in the finishing and polishing procedures of composites.