Influence of Placement Techniques on the Microleakage of Class II Composite Restorations

The aim was to investigate the in vitro marginal integrity of resin composite direct class II restorations placed using three different placement techniques at the gingival and occlusal restorative margins by means of micro leakage. Sixty human maxillary premolars, extracted for orthodontic reasons were collected. Class II cavities were prepared at mesial proximal surface of each tooth. Teeth were randomly and equally divided into 3 groups (n = 20). In-group I, a Nano-hybrid composite in a single layer was used. In-group II, (Filtek Z350 XT, 3M ESPE) oblique placement technique was applied. In Group III (Filtek Z350 XT, 3M ESPE) a centripetal placement technique was employed. Micro leakage scores among all groups at occlusal and gingival margin were compared with ANOVA and p-value of <0.05 was considered as significant. At occlusal margin, highest mean micro leakage was found to be in-group III (centripetal) [2.9 (SD 1.165)] and lowest in-group I (bulk) [1.5 (SD) 1.192)]. Maximum microleakage at the gingival margin was found in-group III (centripetal) [2.4, SD1.231] and lowest in-group I (Bulk) [1.45 SD1.099], All three-restoration placement techniques showed micro leakage at gingival and occlusal margins.