Effect of a Home Bleaching Agent on the Fracture Toughness of Resin Composites, Using Short Rod Design

Statement of Problem: Resin composites are brittle materials and their major shortcomings are manifested in their sensitivity to flaws and defects. Although various mechanical properties of resin composites have been described, few studies are available on assessing the effect of bleaching agents on resin composites using the short rod design. Purpose: To place various resin composites into distilled water at 37°C for 21 days and determine the effect of immersion time in distilled water, with and without exposure to 10% carbamide peroxide by employing short rod design fracture toughness test. Materials and Method: Specimens were prepared from three resin composites; Rok (SDI), Esthet (Dentsply), and Estelite (Tokuyama). For each material, a total of 24 disc-shaped specimens were prepared using a custom-made mould. Specimens were randomly divided into 3 groups of 8 and conditioned in 37°C distilled water for either 24 hours, or 21 days. 21 day specimens were tested both with and without applying bleaching agent; Polanight (SDI). Study group specimens were bleached for 21 days, 2 hours a day. The specimens were loaded using a universal testing machine with a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm per minute. The maximum load at specimen failure was recorded and the K(Ic) (MPa. M (0.5)) was calculated. Results: Statistical analysis using two-way ANOVA showed a significant relationship between material and time (p< 0.05).Tukey’s test showed that after 24 h of immersion in distilled water, Rok revealed the highest K(Ic) followed by Esthet and Estelite. The bleaching agent significantly improved the fracture toughness values of Esthet while it decreased that of Estelite. Conclusion: The fracture toughness of the resin composites was affected by the bleaching agent and distilled water. In comparison with Rok and Estelite, fracture toughness of Esthet was increased due to aging and application of bleaching agent.