The Effect of Polishing and Thermocycling on the Surface Roughness of Two Nanohybrid Composites

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of polishing and thermocycling on the surface roughness of two nanohybrid composites. Materials and Methods: Two nanofilled composites were used. The surface roughness (Ra) was initially measured in a profilometer using a cut-off of 0.25 mm, after 1000 thermal cycles. Data were subjected to Paired Samples t-test and Independent Samples t-test (a = 0.05). Results: Overall, 1000 thermal cycles slightly increased the surface roughness values for both the materials used. It was found that there existed a statistically significant difference between the individual groups before and after thermocycling (p<0.05) and there was no statistically significant difference between the groups after thermocycling (p>0.05). Conclusion: Thermocycling increased surface roughness of both the composites. When the post thermocycling surface roughness values of Filtek Z350XT and Polofil NHT were compared, no significant differences were observed.