A STUDY ON THE RADIOPACITY OF DIFFERENT SHADES OF RESIN-MODIFIED GLASS-IONOMER RESTORATIVE MATERIALS

There are several resin-modified glass-ionomer restorative materials a vailable to the dental profession today. The commercially available br ands are presented in a range of shades. There is little information o n their radiopacity and whether this varies with differences in shade, While the general radiopacity of various products may have been studi ed, only assumptions are available regarding their consistency between shades. The purpose of this study was to investigate if there were an y significant differences in the radiopacity of the shades available w ithin each commercial product. The products evaluated were Fuji II LC, Vitremer, and Photac-Fil. The optical densities of standardized radio graphs of samples of these materials were determined and radiopacity v alues of materials expressed in millimeter equivalents of aluminum. Of the three resin-modified glass-ionomer restorative materials tested, Fuji II LC was the most radiopaque and Photac-Fil the least, Fuji II L C and Vitremer showed radiopacity values equivalent to >2.5 mm and >1. 5 mm aluminum respectively; Photac-Fil demonstrated very low radiopaci ty values (equivalent to <0.6 mm aluminum). Statistical analysis revea led that there was no significant difference in radiopacity among the shades within each of these brands.