Effect of light-curing unit and adhesive system on marginal adaptation of class v composite restorations.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of light-curing units (LED or halogen) on the marginal adaptation of composite restorations performed with etch-and-rinse and self-etching adhesive. Class V cavities were prepared on bovine teeth with the gingival margin on dentin and the incisal margin on enamel. The cavities were restored with a micro-hybrid resin composite using an etch-and-rinse (Single Bond 2--SB) or a self-etching adhesive (Clearfil SE Bond--CL). The light-activations were performed using halogen lamp (Optilux 501--QTH) or second-generation light-emitting diode (Radii-Cal--LED) (n = 10). After finishing and polishing the restorations, epoxy replicas were prepared. The marginal adaptation was analyzed under scanning electronic microscopy with 500x of magnification. The greatest gap width at each margin was recorded. Data were submitted to Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests (a = 0.05). SB and CL showed similar behavior of enamel margins when the light-activations were performed with QTH. The same was observed for dentin margins with LED. When the LED was used, higher gap measurements at enamel margins were observed with CL, while higher gap values in dentin were observed for SB within QTH. No significant difference between substrates was found when CL was used. However, SB had significantly higher gap measurements in dentin. The light-curing unit seems to affect the marginal adaptation of resin composite restorations. However this effect was dependent on the adhesive and the location of the margin.