Volumetric Polymerization Shrinkage of Flowable Dental Composites

Flowable composites are widely used in dental clinic to restore small cavities. They usually have high polymerization shrinkage due to their low filler content. Some new flowable composites claim to have low shrinkage. Objectives : To measure and compare the polymerization shrinkage of three flowable dental composites and a nanohybrid composite. Methods: three flowable composites: Surefil Flowable (Caulk/Dentsply) (SF), Aelite Flow (BISCO) (AF), G-aenial Universal (GU) were included in this study. A nanohybrid composite Filtek Supreme Plus (3M ESPE) (FSP) was also included for comparison. The samples (n=5) were placed on the pedestal of AccuVol (BISCO), settled for 1 min to stabilize the image, recorded the original volume, and light cured for 40s using Optilux 501curing light (Kerr, output >600mW/cm²). The volume shrinkage (VS) (n=5) was recorded at 10 min after light-polymerization. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey HSD test.

Results: Table 1. Volumetric polymerization shrinkage (%) (Mean±SD)

Materials	SF	AF	GU	FSP
VS	6.20±0.47A	5.69±0.11A	5.96±0.11A	2.81±0.27B

 Conclusions: There no significant difference in volume shrinkage among the tested flowable composites (p>0.05). The polymerization shrinkages of all flowable composites tested are significantly higher than that of the nanohybrid composite (p<0.01).