Objective: The purpose of this in-vitro study was to evaluate the surface roughness of two direct resin composites polished with one-step and multi-step polishing systems.
Materials and methods: The resin composites examined in this study include minifill-hybrid composite Esthet-X (DENTSPLY/Caulk, Milford, DE, USA) and packable composite Solitaire II (Heraeus Kulzer, Inc., Southbend). A total of 42 discs (10 x 2 mm), 21 specimens of each restorative material were fabricated. Seven specimens per composite group received no polishing treatment and served as control. For each composite group, the specimens were randomly divided into two polishing systems: One-step PoGo (Dentsply/Caulk, Milford, DE, USA) and multi-step Super Snap (Shofu, Inc. Kyoto, Japan). Polishing systems were applied according to the manufacturer's instructions after being ground wet with 1200 grit silicon carbide paper. The surface roughness values were determined using a profilometer.
Results: Data was subjected to student's t test at a significance level of 0.05. The smoothest surfaces were achieved under Mylar strips in both the composite groups. Mean Ra values ranged from 0.09 to 0.3 mum for Esthet-X group and from 0.18 to 0.3 mum for Solitaire II with different polishing systems. The ranking of the order of surface roughness on the basis of the type of composite was as follows: Esthet-X < Solitaire II for PoGo system and Esthet-X = Solitaire II for Super Snap; and the ranking for the polishing system was: PoGo < Super Snap (P </= 0.05).
Conclusion: The one-step polishing system (PoGo) produced better surface quality in terms of roughness than the multi-step system (Super Snap) for minifill-hybrid composite (Esthet-X), and it was equivalent to Super Snap for packable composites (Solitaire II). Minifill-hybrid presented a better surface finish than Solitaire II when PoGo polishing system was used. No significant difference was present in surface roughness between both the materials when Super Snap system was used.
Keywords: Finishing and polishing systems; PoGo one-step polishing systems; profilometer; super snap polishing system.