Curing depth of a silorane-based resin composite

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The silorane-based resin appears aiming to minimize the effects of polymerization shrinkage, but other properties must be studied. Objective: To evaluate the polymerization depth of two composites with different organic matrix. Material and methods: 80 cylindrical specimens were prepared using a metallic matrix, with three layers (top, middle and bottom), 1 mm high and 5 mm in diameter. The specimens were divided into eight groups (n = 10) according to the composite resins Filtek P90 (3M/ESPE); Filtek Z250 (3M/ESPE), light-cured with a LED device with different irradiance and times (600mW/cm2 x 40s, 1000mW/cm2 x 40s, 1000mW/cm2 x 20s; 1400mW/cm2 x 20s). The irradiance was controlled by placing plastic rings coupled to the device's tip. Immediately after polymerization, the specimens' layers were separated and five Knoop microhardness readings (initial hardness) were performed on each one of the four layers (0, 1, 2, and 3 mm). After 7 day storage in water at 37ºC, new readings were performed (final microhardness). The data were analyzed by four-way ANOVA (resin, energy density, depth and time) and Tukey test (α = 0.05). Results: The microhardness decreased with the depth increasing both in the initial and 7 day readings. The hardness increased with the highest power densities. The resin P90 had lower hardness values. Conclusion: The silorane-based resin showed Knoop microhardness values significant smaller than those of methacrylate-based resin in almost all evaluated parameters. However, both presented similar behaviors in relation to the curing depth.