Surface roughness of etched composite resin in light of composite repair

Abstract

Objectives: In search for clinically effective composite repair protocols, the effect of various etching protocols on the surface roughness of composite resins with different filler composition were investigated.

Methods: Of two composite resins (hybrid-filled Clearfil AP-X; nano-filled Filtek Supreme XT) specimens of 3mm thick with a diameter of 7 mm were prepared (n=24). The top surface was polished with 4000-grit SiC-abrasive paper and subjected to one of eight surface treatments: (n=3): negative control (NC), 37% phosphoric acid for 20s (37PA-20s), 3% hydrofluoric acid for 20s (3HF-20s), for 120 s (3HF-120 s), 9.6% hydrofluoric acid for 20s (9.6HF-20s), for 120 s (9.6%HF-120 s), 37PA-20s followed by 9.6%HF for 120 s (37PA-20s/9.6HF-120 s) and 9.6%HF for 120 s followed by 37PA-20s (9.6HF-120s/37PA-20s). Roughness (S(a)) was measured using a 3D noncontact optical interferometer (WYKO) and surface topography imaged by SEM. Multilevel models were used to estimate the variances within a sample and between samples in each group. Using the resulting overall variances and the means for each group, the eight groups were compared consecutively using t-tests (p<0.05).

Results: The hybrid-filled composite resin demonstrated a significantly rougher surface than the nano-filled (p<0.05). For both composites 9.6%HF-120 s, 37PA-20s/9.6HF-120 s and 9.6%HF-120 s/37PA-20s resulted in a large increase in roughness compared to the other groups (p<0.05). For the hybrid-filled, the succeeding groups (37PA-20s, 3HF-20s, 3HF-120 s and 9.6HF-20s) resulted in a statistically significant increase in surface roughness (p<0.02). For the nano-filled only a statistically significant increase in roughness was found between 3HF-20s and 3HF-120 s (p<0.001) and between 9.6HF-20s and 9.6HF-120 s (p<0.001). SEM surface characterization revealed that the hybrid-filled composite resin was much more affected by etching than the nano-filled.

Significance: Composite resins should not be seen as a group of materials having identical properties when it comes to repair. The effect of etching will depend on the composition of the filler particles.