SURFACE TOPOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF FIBER-REINFORCED AND NON-REINFORCED BULK- FILL COMPOSITE RESTORATIVE MATERIALS

Purpose: During restorative treatment procedures, appropriate indication and selection of dental materials, as well as shortening the treatment time to reduce stress both on the patient and the dentist are important.Bulk-fill composite materials (low-viscosity or high-viscosity/non-fiber or fiber-reinforced), and high-power LED light curing units (single-wave or poly-wave) are utilized during cavity restoration.The aim of this study was to examine the surface topography of different types bulk-fill composite restorative materials under different magnifications using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Additionally, various bulk-fill composite materials surfaces were assessed after polishing utulising a glossmeter and a 3-D non-contact optical profilometer.

Method: The tested restorative materials: two light-cured (TetricPowerFill/Ivoclar-Vivadent), (FiltekOne/3M-ESPE),one dual-cured (Fill-UpUniversal/Coltene) bulk-fill composites.Fiber- reinforced light-cured bulk-fill composites (everXPosterior /GCCorporation,Japan) (everXFlowBulkShade /GCCorporation/Japan). Test specimens (2mmX6mmX40mm) were prepared and polymerized for 20 seconds using a polywave LED light-curing unit (BluePhasePowerCure, Ivoclar-Vivadent). Following the gold-coated process, topographic examinations were determined by SEM (Jeol JSM5500;JeolLtd, Tokyo/Japan) x500,x1000,x1500,x2000 magnification. Surface roughness measurements were achieved utulisings glossmeter (ZehntnerGlossmeter/GmbHTestingInstruments, Germany) and 3-D non- contact optical profilometer (BrukerNano/GmbH Testing Instruments, Germany) connected to the Vision64 software program. MeanSD were calculated n=5/group.

Findings: SEM topographic analysis were showed the fillers in all tested materials, and both fibers and fillers were visible in fiber-reinforced materials.The highest and lowest surface gloss (60°) values were recorded after polishing by the fiber-reinforced low-viscosity restorative material (72.09) and the fiber-reinforced hıgh-viscosity material (53.44), respectively. 3-D non-contact optical profilometer (Ra) measurement results were similar to the surface gloss findings by highest Ra= 0.294μm and lowest Ra= 0.036μm.(p<0.05)

Conclusion: Fiber-reinforced bulk-fill composite materials exhibited distinct surface properties depending on the resin matrix/fiber ratio in their composition.The fiber-reinforced low-viscosity bulk-fill composite material showed surface gloss and roughness values similar to those of the fiber-free bulk-fill composite materials.

Keywords: 3-D Optical Profilometer, Bulk-Fill Composite, Filler Type, Glossmeter, Scanning Electron Microscope