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Depth of cure of sealants polymerized with high‐power light emitting diode curing lights
Author(s) -
Kitchens Brandon,
Wells Martha,
Tantbirojn DARANEE,
Versluis Antheunis
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of paediatric dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.183
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1365-263X
pISSN - 0960-7439
DOI - 10.1111/ipd.12102
Subject(s) - sealant , curing (chemistry) , opacity , composite material , vickers hardness test , polymerization , hardness , materials science , light emitting diode , medicine , optics , polymer , optoelectronics , microstructure , physics
Objective To determine whether recommended short curing times of three high‐power light emitting diode ( LED ) curing lights are sufficient to polymerize sealant materials. Methods Opaque‐unfilled sealant (Delton LC Opaque), opaque‐filled sealant (UltraSeal XT plus), and clear‐filled sealant (FluroShield) were light cured in a covered slot‐mold using the manufacturers' shortest recommended curing times with three high‐power LED lights (3‐s VALO , 5‐s Fusion, 10‐s Smartlite). A 40‐s cure with a quartz‐tungsten halogen ( QTH ) light was used as control. Vickers hardness was measured 24 h after curing at the sealant surface and through the depth (0.5 mm increments) ( N = 10). Results were analyzed with two‐way anova (pair‐wise multiple comparisons, significance level 0.05). Results The high‐power LED s did not cure the sealants as deep as the QTH . Delton LC Opaque showed the least depth of cure as hardness values beyond a depth of 0.5 mm were not measurable regardless of the curing light. Even for UltraSeal XT plus, when surface hardness was about the same with all lights, hardness decreased more rapidly with depth for the LED s. FluroShield showed the slowest decline in hardness through the depth for all lights. Conclusions Manufacturers' recommendations for shortest possible curing time with high‐power LED s were not sufficient for adequate polymerization of the tested sealants.