Surface Roughness of Various Packable Composites

Packable composite restorations have become a popular alternative to dental amalgam restorations in posterior teeth. A drawback inherent to composites is their difficulty in polishing, which often results in a dull or rough surface. This study compared the surface roughness of a resin-based hybrid composite material and five packable resin-based composites polished with either aluminum oxide disks or a rubber polishing system. Sixteen specimens of each of the six composite materials were polished with either Sof-Lex XT disks or Enhance rubber polishers followed by fine and superfine polishing pastes. The specimens were evaluated for surface roughness using surface profilometry. Mean values were calculated for each material type and method of polishing. Data were subjected to a two-way ANOVA. Post hoc comparison was accomplished using Tukey's HSD. No significant difference in surface roughness was detected among polishing techniques (p=0.067); however, a strong trend-that aluminum oxide disks provided a smoother surface than rubber polishers in five out of six materials-was noted.