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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Roughness Impact of Piezoelectric Dental Scaler on Two Distinct Flowable Composite Filling Materials
Published on: January 10, 2025
Surface roughness of resin composite prepared by single-use and multi-use diamonds
Leslie B Roeder1, John M Powers
1Department of Diagnostic Sciences, University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston, 6516 M.D. Anderson Blvd., Houston, TX 77030-3402, USA. Leslie.Roeder@uth.tmc.edu
Purpose:
To compare the surface roughness of a resin composite caused by two 30- and 40-microm, multi-use finishing diamonds with two 30- and 40-microm, single-use finishing diamonds of comparable grit size before and after steam sterilization.
Methods:
Resin composite specimens 6 mm in diameter and 3 mm in depth were light cured. Surface roughness (Ra, microm) of surfaces formed by Mylar, after finishing with a bur, and after polishing with fine and superfine aluminum oxide disks was measured for the as-received and after sterilization conditions with a surface profilometer.
Results:
Ra of Mylar surfaces (baseline) ranged from 0.02-0.05 microm. Ra of surfaces prepared with 30-microm diamond burs ranged from 1.42-1.90 microm. Ra of surfaces prepared with 40-microm diamond burs ranged from 2.22-2.42 microm. Ra of surfaces polished sequentially with fine and superfine aluminum oxide disks ranged from 0.07-0.11 microm in the as-received condition and from 0.12-0.14 microm in the sterilized condition. Sterilization and reuse of all types of diamond finishing burs resulted in equal or rougher resin composite surfaces after final polish when compared to final polish surfaces that were initially finished with as-received diamonds.
Clinical Significance:
Surface roughness of a resin composite prepared with single- and multi-use diamond finishing burs was equivalent when compared at the final polish.
