Finishing and polishing of a hybrid composite and a heat-pressed glass ceramic.

This study assessed the finishing and polishing of a hybrid composite and a glass-ceramic. Ninety Tetric specimens were divided into three groups of 30 specimens and finished with three different finishing procedures. The 30 specimens were subsequently subdivided into six groups of five and polished using the following polishing systems: Sof-Lex disks, the Ceramiste kit, a diamond polisher, Diafix-oral, the MPS gel and the Politip system. Seventy-five IPS-Empress specimens were divided into groups of 25 and finished with three different procedures. The 25 specimens were then subdivided into five groups of five and polished with the same systems, except for the Politip technique. The polished surfaces were evaluated quantitatively by laser stylus profilometry with respect to Ra and profile-length-ratio (LR). Qualitative assessment was carried out by SEM. Quantitative results were examined statistically by one- and two-way Anova and LSD test with significance level of 0.05. The lowest roughness on composite specimens was achieved by the MPS gel and Diafix after finishing according to FM 3 and FM 2. With respect to all methods used, there were no significant differences among the five methods with the lowest Ra-values. The ceramic specimens were able to be polished to lower roughness values (p<0.001 for LR). The best results on ceramic surfaces were achieved with the MPS system after finishing according to FM 3 and FM 2. There were no significant differences among the three methods with the lowest Ra-values and the glazed surface. SEM evaluation largely confirmed the quantitative results. Composite specimens exhibited signs of selective resin matrix removal when the Ceramiste system or the Politip system were used.