Comparative Evaluation of Surface Roughness of different Composites and its effect on Colour Stability of the Restoration

The surface smoothness of the composite restoration plays a major role in maintaining the aesthetics and health of the surrounding tissues. The surface characteristics are mainly dictated by the constituents of the material and the kind of polishing system used. The present study was intended to evaluate and compare the surface roughness (Ra) and colour stability of Solare Sculpt, Filtek Bulk-Fill, and Tetric N-Ceram Bulk-Fill composites. 20 specimens of Solare Sculpt and 10 specimens each of Filtek Bulk-Fill and Tetric N-Ceram Bulk-Fill were prepared. 10 specimens of Solare Sculpt were left unpolished whereas all other specimens were polished either with Sof-Lex or Diacomp® Plus Twist followed by surface roughness and colour assessment. One way-ANOVA and Tukey’s posthoc tests were performed for pair-wise comparison. The unpolished Specimens showed less Ra values than the polished specimens. Filtek Bulk-Fill showed the lowest Ra (5.80nm) and Solare Sculpt showed the highest Ra (12.96nm) after polishing with Sof-Lex whereas Tetric N-Ceram showed the lowest Ra (7.91nm) and Solare Sculpt highest Ra (9.80nm) after polishing with Diacomp discs. And the colour change values were least for Filtek Bulk-Fill (4.02) and highest for Tetric N-Ceram (4.71). Though the composition and filler content of the composite & the type of polishing system plays an important role, no correlation has been found between the type of filler particles and the surface smoothness and between surface smoothness and the colour stability signifying the fact that surface roughness and the colour stability may depend on many factors.