The surface finish of light-cured composite resin materials

A necessity for any dental restorative material is its ability to take and maintain a smooth surface finish. Composite resin restorative materials with fillers and matrix of differing hardness are difficult to finish and polish. The use of aluminum trioxide discs is a popular and acceptable method of finishing composite restorative materials where the material is accessible. Burs and stones are used for finishing and polishing inaccessible areas. This study was undertaken to compare the surface finish of composite resin restorative material when finished with white stones, superfine diamond burs and aluminum trioxide discs. The finished surface was measured with a profilometer and the roughness average value used to compare the surfaces. The aluminum trioxide discs gave the best and most consistent results. It was possible to attain similar results with the superfine diamond bur. However, the results were highly variable. None of the methods used achieved the smoothness of composite resin cured against a transparent matrix.