The effect of bleaching agents on the microhardness of dental aesthetic restorative materials.

This study investigated the effects of three home bleaching agents on the microhardness of various dental aesthetic restorative materials. The restorative materials were: feldspatic porcelain, microfilled composite resin and light-cured modified glass-ionomer cement and the bleaching agents Nite-White (16% carbamide peroxide), Opalescence (10% carbamide peroxide and carbapol jel) and Rembrandt (10% carbamide peroxide jel). A total of 90 restorative material samples were prepared 1 cm diameter and 6 mm thick and kept in distilled water for 24 h before commencing bleaching which was carried out for 8 h day-1 for 4 weeks. Microhardness measurements were then made using a Tukon tester. Statistically significant differences with respect to unbleached controls were found only for the feldspatic porcelain and microfilled composite resins (P <0.05) for Nite-White and Opalescence. All the bleaching agents decreased the microhardness of the porcelain and increased that of the light cured modified glass-ionomer cement. For the composite resin, whereas Nite-White increased its microhardness, the other bleaching agents decreased it. There were no significant differences between the bleaching agents for any of the restorative materials.