Effect of Distance on Light Transmission Through Polymerized Resin Composite

Light transmittance of dental composites varies between products and shades, but also light curing units differ to each other in their irradiance and fiber optic structure of curing tip. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is linear relationship between the distance of the curing tip to the resin composite and irradiance at lower surface of the resin composite.

Disks of 1 mm thickness (6mm diameter) were fabricated. Light transmittance (intensity) through the disk was measured at distance of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 mm from the light tip with two light curing units Elipar S10 (3M-ESPE) and Silverlight (GC). Irradiance ratio (irradiance on the sensor surface without the composite disk / with the composite disk) was calculated and plotted against the distance of the light curing tip. Statistical analysis was carried out using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA, Tukey's, α =0.05).

Irradiance ratio varied between 18% to 24% with Silverlight and 21% to 26% with Elipar S10 light curing units. There were statistically significant differences between the ratios with different distances of the light curing tip (p⟨0.05). Interestingly, the highest irradiance ratio for Elipar S10 unit was found with 4 mm distance of the tip, whereas Silverlight unit had the highest ratio with 6 mm distance. Out of two tested resin composites, the flowable composite showed higher irradiance ratio than regular packable resin composite.

Increase of distance of the light curing tip from the composite surface decreased the absolute irradiance underneath of composite, as expected. However, there seemed to be device dependent optimal distance of 4-6 mm to reach the most efficient irradiance ratio through the composite resin keeping in mind that most efficient transmission of light through the material is reached by having light curing tip in contact to the material.