Effect of Er,Cr:YSGG laser on the surface of composite restoratives during in-office tooth bleaching

The aim of this in vitro study was to investigate the effect of Er,Cr:YSGG laser on the surface roughness and microhardness of various composite restoratives during in-office tooth bleaching. Five highly viscous composite restoratives and three flowable composite restoratives were investigated. Thirty cylindrical specimens of each material were made using Teflon molds. The specimens of each composite were randomly divided into three groups (n = 10). Group 1 specimens did not receive bleaching treatment, group 2 received a conventional in-office bleaching treatment, and group 3 received a laser-assisted in-office bleaching treatment using an Er,Cr:YSGG laser. Two-way ANOVA was used to determine significant interactions between materials and bleaching methods. One-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test were used to compare the mean surface microhardness and roughness between materials for each treatment group (a = 0.05). Τhere were no significant differences in surface microhardness between the two bleached experimental groups for all the tested composites (p > 0.05). The reduction of surface microhardness after bleaching procedures ranged from 0.72 to 16.93 % for the specimens received conventional treatment and from 1.30 to 11.51 % for those received laser-assisted treatment. Moreover, there were no significant differences in Ra values between the experimental groups (p > 0.05) in all cases. The increase of surface roughness after the bleaching treatments was negligible and was between 0.43 and 4.78 %. The use of Er,Cr:YSGG laser during in-office tooth bleaching treatment did not affect the surface microhardness and roughness of the tested composite restorative materials.