Effect of light absence or attenuation on biaxial flexural strength of dual-polymerized resin cements after short- and long-term storage.

Objective: To evaluate whether biaxial flexural strength (BFS) of dual resin cements is affected by light absence or attenuation, storage time, or cements' chemical nature.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and twenty disk-shaped specimens were made from each cement (non-self-adhesive cement and self-adhesive cement) using Teflon molds on a controlled temperature surface (35°C). Specimens were polymerized as follows (N = 30): self-cured, directly light-cured, light-cured at a distance of 6 mm between the light tip and the specimen, and through a 6-mm thick composite resin barrier (indirectly light-cured). Each group was divided (N = 10) for storage purposes (15 minutes, 24 hours, and 6 months). Specimens were placed into a biaxial-flexure jig and a vertical load was applied until failure. The BFS values were subjected to generalized linear models statistical analysis and Weibull distributions (α = 0.05).

Results: After 15 minutes aging, neither material achieved enough polymerization to perform the BFS test when polymerized using the self-curing mode. The self-adhesive product demonstrated much lower variation in strength with storage time than did the non-self-curing cement.

Conclusions: Attenuated/light-curing reduced BFS values only for 15-minutes storage period for both materials. Flexural strength of the self-adhesive cement was less affected by light absence/attenuation and storage time.

Clinical Significance: Biaxial flexural strength of a self-adhesive resin cement is less sensitive to variation in light application and storage time than is a non-self-adhesive cement.