Effect of flowable composite use on the microleakage of class II composite restorations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of two composite insertion techniques on marginal leakage in the tooth/composite interface of the gingival wall of class II cavity. Twenty cavities were prepared on the proximal face of ten humans molars. The cavities made in mesial surface were restored with three composite increments and photoactivated after insertion of each increment (Group I). The distal cavities were restored with the same technique, however preceded by application of one layer of flowable composite over the gingival wall (Group II). All samples were stored in distilled water at 37 ºC for 24h and submitted to 200 thermocycles (5 ºC - 55 ºC) for 30s in each bath. Afterwards, the samples were immersed in methylene blue solution, for 4h and sectioned for microleakage evaluation (n = 10). The data was submitted to Kruskal-Wallis test. The results showed a significant reduction of the microleakage in the gingival wall when the flowable composite layer was applied previously the insertion of the composite resin.