N. Tanoue et al., CURING DEPTH OF 4 COMPOSITE VENEERING MATERIALS POLYMERIZED WITH DIFFERENT LABORATORY PHOTO-CURING UNITS, Journal of oral rehabilitation, 25(5), 1998, pp. 348-352
Post-curing properties of composite materials are influenced by the ty
pe of base monomer, activation system, filler content, and also by the
type of light source employed. This study examined curing depth of fo
ur composite veneering materials polymerized by means of two different
high-intensity photo-curing units for the purpose of evaluating the c
uring performance of the combinations of composite material and photoc
uring unit. Two microfilled and two hybrid composite materials designe
d for prosthetic veneer were assessed. The composite materials were cu
red using two photo-curing units, one with a xenon light source and on
e with two metal halide light sources, and exposure periods varied fro
m 20 to 90 s. Curing depth of the materials was determined with a scra
ping technique described by the International Organization for Standar
dization (ISO 4049). Three-factor analysis of variance revealed that t
he depth of cure was influenced by the type of composite material as w
ell as by the photo-curing unit, and also by the exposure period (P =
0.0001). A microfilled composite material (Dentacolor) demonstrated th
e greatest depth of cure (4.69 mm) after 90 s irradiation with a metal
halide unit (Hyper LII). Of the two photo-curing units, the metal hal
ide curing unit consistently exhibited greater depth of cure than the
xenon curing unit (Dentacolor XS). Longer exposure increased the depth
of cure for all combinations.