A comparison of cuspal movement of premolar teeth restored with bulk-filled composite resins combined with universal adhesives.

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to compare bulk-filled composite resins with conventional composites in terms of cuspal movement and micro-leakage scores. METHODS Ninety-six maxillary premolar teeth with mesial-occclusal-distal cavities were allocated to four groups. Twelve teeth in each group was treated etch rinse, self-etch or selective-etch (n=8) protocols with respective adhesive system. Bucco-palatal cusp measurements were performed before and after preparation, and 180s after curing and then subjected to 5000 thermocyclws. After immersed in 0.2% basic fuchsin dye for 24h, cervical micro-leakage was evaluated. The data was analyzed by One-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey's honest Test (p=0.05). RESULTS All groups and bonding protocols revealed no significant differences in total cuspal deflection measurement and micro-leakage scores. After preparation, a significant increase was found in bucco-palatal width of the teeth compared to baseline (p=0.002). There were no significant relationship among composite resins and adhesives (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS Cuspal relief after cavity preparation should be taken into account when evaluation deflection.