Effect of Polishing on Matrix-Formed Surfaces of Resin Composite

Objective: To determine which polishing system will result in the smoothest surface for the resin composites tested and to know whether there is an interaction between the resin composites Filtek Supreme (3M ESPE Dental products, St Paul Minn USA), Esthet-X (Dentsply/Caulk USA) and Spectrum (Dentsply/Caulk, USA) with various polishing methods. Methods: Forty specimens were made for each material (10mm in diameter and 2mm thick). The specimens were divided into four groups according to the polishing systems: group 1-Matrix finish (control), group 2-Enhance discs (Dentsply/Caulk, USA) and POGO micro polisher discs (Dentsply/Caulk, USA), group 3-Enhance system (Dentsply/Caulk, USA) and group 4-Sof Lex discs (Dentsply/Caulk, USA). The specimens were polished and then the mean surface roughness (Ra) was determined with a profilometer (Surftest, Mitutoyo, Japan). The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Dunnett T3 post hoc test. Results: The Enhance polishing system showed significantly highest mean roughness value for all the resin composites tested whereas the matrix finish which was the control group demonstrated a significantly lowest mean roughness value for all resin composites tested. Of the materials investigated, Filtek Supreme resulted in significantly lowest mean roughness values with all the polishing methods when compared to the other resin composites. Esthet-X and Spectrum displayed variable roughness depending on the polishing systems used. For Filtek Supreme, the lowest mean Ra was obtained with Enhance and POGO. However, Sof Lex polishing discs produced the lowest mean roughness value overall. Conclusions: In general, Sof Lex is to be recommended as the preferred polishing method for Filtek Supreme, Esthet-X and Spectrum as it produced the lowest overall mean roughness value. The combination of Enhance discs and POGO produced a smoother surface for all resin composites tested when compared to the Enhance system. Study supported by Vote F 0215/2004A.