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Background: Bulk-fill resin composite has been introduced, their manufacturers claimed that they can be applied in
bulks of 4mm, without necessitating a prolonged curing time, or a light curing unit with increased irradiance. Thus
this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of resin thickness, and curing time on the micro-hardness of two
bulk -fill resin composites; Tetric Evo-Ceram [TE], and X-trafil [XF].
Material and Methods: 120 cylindrical specimens were prepared, and divided into 24 groups (n=5/group), representing the two bulk-fill resin composites, three different material thicknesses (2, 3 and 4 mm) and the four curing
times used in the study (10, 20, 40, and 60 seconds). The specimens were light-cured from the top surface only.
Specimens were stored in light proof containers in complete darkness at 37°C for 24 hours. Micro-hardness test
was conducted on both top and bottom surfaces using Vickers micro-hardness tester with 500 g load and a dwell
time of 15 seconds. Data were statistically analyzed by Four-way ANOVA of Variance. The significance level was
set at
P
≤ 0.05. Pearson Correlation used to determine significant correlations between mean micro-hardness (top)
and (bottom) surfaces.
Results: Four way-ANOVA shows that different tested materials produce a statistically significant effect on mean
micro-hardness (VHN) at
p
≤0.001, while thickness, curing time, and surface revealed statistically non significant
effect on mean micro-hardness (VHN) at
p
≥0.05. [XF] (92.01±3.15 VHN) showed statistically significant higher
mean micro-hardness than [TE] (54.13±4.96 VHN). Pearson Correlation revealed that there was a significant direct
correlation between micro-hardness (bottom) and mean micro-hardness (top) (mm), r = 0.985,
p
(2-tailed) ≤0.001.
Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, the bulk-fill resin composites used in this study can be placed and
cured properly in the 4 mm bulk
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