Evaluation of flexural strength of bulk-fill composite resin after immersion in fruit juices: An in vitro study.

Abstract

Resin-based composites are increasingly employed in dental restorations due to their esthetics. Flexural strength is the characteristic feature of a substance, and it can be described as the stress present in the material just before it renders in a flexure test. The purpose of this study was to determine the flexural strength of a bulk-fill composite following immersion in fruit juices. Ten samples of bulk-fill type composite filling material were created, with four samples from Restofill (Group 1) and four samples from Ivoclar Vivadent (Group 2). Out of which, four specimens of each brand were included for immersion in fruit juices; two specimens were kept as control. The eight samples were put through a flexural strength test, with four remaining as controls, before being measured for maximum force and displacement on the Instron E3000 universal testing equipment. SPSS version 23 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) was used to examine the calculated flexural strength. The composite Ivoclar has a mean flexural strength of 20.52, whereas the composite Restofill has a mean flexural strength of 20.55. The P value for the independent sample t-test between the two groups, Ivoclar and Restofill, was 0.089 (>0.05), which is statistically insignificant. It is clear from this research that the bulk-fill composite resin Ivoclar has a low flexural strength when compared to the sample Restofill after immersion in fruit juices.