Microleakage of indirect composite inlays. An in vitro comparison with the direct technique

Microleakage occurring around directly and indirectly made class-II composite restorations was evaluated on extracted human premolars. Before the evaluation was made, the teeth were thermocycled and stained with an organic dye. Direct class-II composite restorations demonstrated extensive microleakage at their dentin cavosurface margins. Indirect class-II composite inlays luted with a dual-curing composite cement displayed much less microleakage than restorations made using the direct technique. The use of glass-ionomer cement rather than composite cement as the luting material resulted in more microleakage. Rather than being a true microleakage, the leakage of glass-ionomer cement might be the result of a diffusion of the water-soluble organic dye in the water-based cement. The results suggest that the indirect composite technique is superior to the direct technique when it comes to reducing microleakage.