Early tooth-colored restorative materials were weak and only suitable for anterior teeth. Over time, composites were developed that offered improved properties enabling their use in posterior teeth where subject to occlusal loading and forces of mastication. Secondary caries is the main reason for failure of both amalgam and composite restorations. Amalgam restorations offer ease-of-use but poo...

Today proper selection of dental cements is a key factor to achieve a successful restoration and will greatly increase the chances of long-term success of the restoration. In recent years, many newly formulated dental cements have been developed with the claim of better performance compared to the traditional materials. Unfortunately, selection of suitable dental cement for a specific clinical ...

Early tooth-colored restorative materials were weak and only suitable for anterior teeth. Over time, composites were developed that offered improved properties enabling their use in posterior teeth where subject to occlusal loading and forces of mastication. Secondary caries is the main reason for failure of both amalgam and composite restorations. Amalgam restorations offer ease-of-use but poo...

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that bonding with a blue light-emitting diode (LED) curing unit produces no more failures in adhesive-precoated (APC) orthodontic brackets than bonding carried out by a conventional halogen lamp. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty-five patients were selected for this randomized clinical trial, in which a total of 1152 stainless steel APC brackets were employed. In or...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine the effect of ageing on the light intensity of quartz-tungsten-halogen (QTH) polymerization units in dental schools and dental clinics. MATERIALS & METHODS Two dental schools and multiple public health dental clinics were visited and the light intensity of curing units was assessed. The age, make, model and service history were recorded. A cal...

OBJECTIVE To measure the light energy that dental students delivered to a simulated Class I restoration before training, immediately after training and 4 months after training. METHODS Thirty-eight (38) dental students used a single light-emitting diode curing light (SmartLite iQ2, Dentsply) to cure, for 10 seconds, a simulated Class I restoration positioned in the Managing Accurate Resin Cur...

This study evaluated the degree of conversion (DC) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of dual-cured resin cements heated to 50º C prior to and during polymerization. Disc- and hourglass-shaped specimens of Rely X ARC (RX) and Variolink II (VII) were obtained using addition silicon molds. The products were manipulated at 25º C or 50º C and were subjected to 3 curing conditions: light-activation...

AIM Aim of this study was the evaluation of the microhardness of 4 dental sealants polymerised with two different curing units. METHODS Twenty samples (5 x 5x 2 mm) were prepared with 4 different sealants; 10 samples for each group were polymerised with a plasma curing unit (Apollo 95 E DMD) and 10 with a halogen curing light (Heliolux DLX Vivadent ETS, Schaan, Liechtenstein). For each sectio...