Effect of finishing and polishing procedures on the surface roughness of packable composites

This study examined the average surface roughness (Ra, mum) of three packab le composites and one hybrid composite cured against mylar, before and afte r treatment with a fine finishing diamond bur, a resin finisher followed by fine and extra-fine polishing paste, two silicone-based finishing and poli shing systems, fine and super-fine aluminum-oxide polishing disks, a silico n carbide-impregnated polishing brush and a surface-penetrating composite s ealant. Additionally, the Ra was examined for one of the packable composite s before and after treatment with a finishing carbide, prior to the finishi ng and polishing procedures detailed above. The finishing diamond significa ntly increased the Ra for all composites (ALERT, SureFil, Solitaire and Z-1 00). The finishing carbide used with SureFil (SureFil+C) also increased the Ra; however, it also produced surfaces up to 3.5x smoother when compared t o SureFil surfaces finished with the diamond. Overall, Sof-Lex Contouring a nd Polishing Discs were able to produce the smoothest surfaces, followed by the Jiffy Composite Polishing Cups, the Enhance Composite Finishing & Poli shing System/Prisma-Gloss Composite Polishing Paste, the Diacomp Intra-Oral Composite Polishers and the Jiffy Composite Polishing Brushes, respectivel y. The smoothest surfaces were produced using Z-100, followed by SureFil+C (carbide finishing bur), Solitaire, SureFil and ALERT, respectively. In gen eral, Protect-It Composite Surface Sealant had little effect on the Re, exc ept with ALERT, where a slight increase in Ra was observed.