ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF PHOTOPOLYMERIZATION OF COMPOSITE RESIN SPECIMEN FOR FLEXURAL STRENGTH TEST

Abstract

The flexural resistence is one of the most used test in researchs of mechanical characterization of resin composites for dental restoration. ISO 4049 photopolymerization technique performed static application stages of light tip. To polymerize the entire area of ​​the specimen some areas must receive extra radiation. These areas with extra radiation are called overlap areas. In an attempt to remedy this problem, this research compared the ISO method with a new method using constant movement (CM) during photopolymerization. Twenty specimens (SPs) were produced with 25 x 2 x 2 mm, for each group, 10 specimens being polymerized by the static technique recommended by the ISO-4049 and 10 specimens polymerized by the CM technique for each LED curing light used. After Tukey's statistical analysis, it was found that there was no statistical difference in relation to flexural strength (FS) and for the flexural modulus of elasticity (EF). However, the standard deviation of both FS and EF were much lower in MC than in ISO. Therefore, the photopolymerization by CM of the samples for the flexural strength test proved to be a possible solution to the problem of overlap of the technique proposed by ISO.

Keywords: Flexural Strength, Elastic Modulus, Composite Resin, Photopolymerization.