Optical X-ray density of composite resin luting agents

Abstract

Objective: This study verified the optical density of four composite resin luting agents – RelyX ARC (RY), Enforce (E), C&B Cement (CB) and Flow it (FI) - at the thicknesses of 2, 3, and 4 mm. The optical density of the luting agents was compared with enamel and dentin at the same thicknesses. Methods: Fifteen tooth crowns were embedded in PVC cylinders with self-cured acrylic resin. In additional, acrylic resin was poured into 5 PVC cylinders and made four equidistant 5 mm diameter holes, one luting material being inserted in each hole. With a laboratory cutting machine, slices of the tooth crowns and materials were obtained at the thickness of 4, 3, and 2 mm. Digora system was used to obtain the digital images. Three radiographs of each thickness were obtained, totalizing 135 radiographs for the crowns and 45 for the materials. Three readings were carried out on each radiograph, being three in enamel, three in dentin and three in each material, totalizing 1350. Results: According to Student’s t-test (p≤0.05), the materials RY and CB did not differ statistically from enamel at all thicknesses, but differed from E and FI that presented statistically higher results. RY did not differ statistically from dentin, presenting a lower value than enamel and lower than the other materials at all thicknesses. Conclusion: The composite resin luting agents E and FI can be differentiated from dental structures, while the CB and RY would not be easily differentiated.