Effect of Four Different Placement Techniques on Marginal Microleakage in Class II Composite Restorations: An in vitro Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background and objectives This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of different placement techniques (bulk, oblique incremental, centripetal and split horizontal) on marginal microleakage in class II composite restoration. Method Standardized class II preparations were made in 40 caries-free extracted molars and randomly assigned to four groups (n = 10): (1) Bulk technique (2) oblique incremental insertion technique,(3) centripetal incremental insertion technique and (4) split horizontal incremental insertion. The teeth were restored with a total-etch adhesive and nanocomposite resin. The specimens were immersed in a solution of 2% methylene blue for 24 hours, and subsequently evaluated for leakage. The microleakage scores (0 to 4) obtained from the occlusal and cervical walls were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests (p < 0.05). Results Microleakage scores indicated that incremental technique was better than bulk for composite placement and among incremental techniques split incremental technique showed best results. Conclusion Incremental placement technique showed lower microleakage compared to bulk, and lower microleakage was seen at occlusal margin compared to gingival margin. Split horizontal incremental technique showed the least microleakage scores among incremental techniques