Comparing the effectiveness of self-curing and light curing in polymerization of dual-cured core buildup materials

The authors conducted an in vitro study to investigate the influence of various curing protocols on subsurface microhardness of dual-cured resin-based composites.

The authors filled molds with four dual-cured resin-based composite core buildup materials: Clearfil DC Core Automix (Kuraray, Tokyo), Core•X flow (Dentsply DeTrey, Konstanz, Germany), LuxaCore Z-Dual (DMG, Hamburg, Germany) and MultiCore Flow (Ivoclar Vivadent, Schaan, Liechtenstein). They light cured the specimens for 20 or 60 seconds immediately after the filling procedure (time delay, 0 seconds) or after a 90-or 300-second delay. Self-cured specimens served as controls. The authors tested 15 specimens in each group. They measured the Knoop hardness number (KHN) at depths of 0.25, 2.00 and 5.50 millimeters two weeks after the initiation of polymerization.

Light curing with Core•X flow, LuxaCore Z-Dual and MultiCore Flow did not result in significantly higher KHNs at any depth compared with those for the self-cured control specimens. For Clearfil DC Core Automix, immediate light curing for 60 seconds resulted in significantly higher KHNs than those for self-cured specimens only at a depth of 5.50 mm (P=.0171). The study results showed no significant differences in KHN at different depths for Core•X flow specimens, independent of the curing protocol. All other materials exhibited a significant decrease in KHN at increased depths in only one of the six light-cured groups.

The results of this study show that photoactivation of the tested dual-cured materials provided no clinically relevant benefit compared with self-curing with regard to the degree of microhardness.

The dominant self-curing mode allows placement of the tested buildup materials in areas inaccessible to a curing light.