Effects of polishing procedures on optical parameters and surface roughness of composite resins with different viscosities.

The aims of this study were to evaluate the optical properties of flowable and injectable composites after polishing, such as translucency (translucency parameter [TP], TP), opalescence (OP-BW), chroma (Cab), refractive index (RI), and change in surface roughness (Ra, Rz). Ninety disc-shaped samples were prepared from micro-hybrid, flowable, and injectable composites and divided into 3 groups according to the polishing systems (n=10). The RI was measured with an Abbe refractometer, and optical measurements were performed with a spectrophotometer. The surface roughness was measured with a two-dimensional profilometer. Data were analyzed with the generalized linear model method and two-way analysis of variance. The results showed that the polishing procedure did not significantly impact the RI (p=0.987). Injectable composite had the highest translucency (TP=28.67; TP=13.49) and opalescence (OP-BW=13.11); showed the lowest Cab value (17.95). Also, the effects of the composite type and polishing procedure on surface roughness were statistically significant (p=0.047 and p<0.001).