Microleakage of Class II composite resin restorations with self-adhesive composite resin liners

This study investigated the microleakage of Class II composite restorations with composite resin liners. Standardized box cavities were prepared on the mesial and distal surfaces of 84 extracted intact human molars. Proximal margins were located in enamel (occlusal) and 1.0 mm apical to the cementoenamel junction (gingival). The teeth were randomly divided into 6 groups (n = 28 cavities) and restored with Filtek Z350 nanohybrid composite resin (FZ). The test groups were lined with a conventional flowable composite resin, Premise Flowable (PF), or 1 of 2 self-adhesive composites (SACs): Vertise Flow (VF) or Clearfil SA luting cement (CSA) with or without their respective self-etching adhesives: Optibond All-in-One (OB) or Clearfil SE Bond (CSE). The adhesive/lining procedure was performed as follows: OB/FZ (control), OB/PF/FZ, VF/FZ, OB/VF/FZ, CSA/FZ, or CSE/CSA/FZ. Microleakage was evaluated at the occlusal and gingival margins using a dye penetration technique and quantitative assessment. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze the data at the significance level of α = 0.05. None of the restorative techniques was capable of preventing microleakage completely. The greatest amount of microleakage was detected in the VF/FZ and CSA/FZ groups at both margins (P < 0.02). Among the groups placed with a bonding agent, OB/VF/FZ showed significantly greater values of microleakage at the occlusal margins than did OB/FZ, OB/PF/FZ, and CSE/CSA/FZ (P < 0.05). At the gingival margins, the OB/PF/FZ group exhibited the least leakage compared with the OB/VF/FZ and CSE/CSA/FZ groups (P < 0.001). The results indicated that the additional application of bonding agents improved the marginal sealing of SACs in Class II composite restorations.