Optical and Surface Properties of Different Bulk - Fill Resin Composites after Storage in Different Media

Aim: to evaluate and compare surface properties (wettability, surface roughness and color) of paste bulk fill resin composite materials on baseline and after incubation in RedBull or Black coffee storage media and to find out if there is any change in these surface properties after 1 week and 1 month incubation. Materials and Methods: Three bulk-fill resin composites (Filtek bulk fill3M, X-trafilVoco, and SonicFill bulk-fillKerr) were used. For the contact angle and surface roughness testing, standardized disc-shaped resin composite samples (6 mm X 4 mm) were prepared. For the color testing, standardized Teflon molds (7 mm X 4 mm) with predetermined color as a standard background were used. Five samples were prepared from each material for each test and were light cured following the manufacturers’ instructions. Samples were tested at baseline, after 1 week and 1 month incubation in RedBull for contact angle and surface roughness tests and in black coffee for the color test. One-way ANOVA test statistics was done to compare between the mean values for the 3 materials with p value less than 0.05. Least significance test was followed to compare between each two materials in case there were statistical significant results. Paired t test was used to compare between baseline Vs 1 week and baseline Vs one month in each group. Results: there was a statistically significant decrease in the contact angle measurement for all 3 materials at 1 week and 1 monthand no statistical significance between the 3 materials at baseline and 1 month. There was no significant difference in the Ra (surface roughness) values between all the 3 materials at each incubation times. Each material had no significant difference in the Ra (surface roughness) values between baseline, 1 week and 1 month incubation in RedBull. There was a just noticeable color difference between baseline and 1 week for 3M and SonicFill. There was also a noticeable color difference between baseline and 1 month for all the 3 materials. Conclusion: Sports drink (RedBull) increased the wettability of the materials surface, which was directly proportional to the incubation time but did not have a direct effect on surface roughness of the materials. The use of black coffee as a storage media showed noticeable significant staining of the materials. Testing in a more oral simulation environment is needed to reach clinically relevant conclusion. [Reem Ali Ajaj. Optical and Surface Properties of Different Bulk-Fill Resin Composites after Storage in Different Media. J Am Sci 2015;11(6):249-254]. (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.jofamericanscience.org. 29