[The curing of composites under Cerec inlays]

96 Cerec CAD/CIM inlays (Vita Cerec Mk II, shades A2C and B3C) were seated into one reusable mod-cavity in a human molar. Light- (Brilliant Lux Incisal, Coltène) and dual- (Vita Duo Cement) curing composite resin respectively were used and the proximal areas were irradiated using a curing light (Coltolux II) with 4 different procedures: A) 210 s; B) 120 s (including 30 s Luciwedge, LW); C) 120 s (no LW) and D) 60 s. Vickers hardness (VHN) of the cured resin was measured at the pulpo-axial walls of the removed inlays. Polymerization-% of the resin was calculated relative to VHN of control samples, whose polymerization was scored as 100%. Two way Anova and Scheffé test were used for statistical comparison of the data. The results for the light-/dual-curing groups for shade A2C were: A) 97/89%, B) 89/90%, C) 91/88% D) 79/69%. Results for shade B3C were: A) 97/87%, B) 86/87%, C) 89/88% and D) 71/69%. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were found between light- and dual-curing. With procedures A, B and C light- and dual-curing resulted in adequate polymerization rates (PR > 85%) whereas D (PR < 80%) was significantly (p < 0.001) lower than A, B and C. Dual-curing resin had no advantages vs. light-curing with respect to polymerization rate when seating Cerec CAD/CIM inlays. The overall handling of the light-curing composite resin was judged to be easier than that of the dual cure material.