The surface roughness of enamel-to-enamel contact areas compared with the intrinsic roughness of dental resin composites.

The purpose of this study was to determine the surface roughness of enamel-to-enamel contact areas in order to provide a standard for comparison with surface characteristics of commercially available composite restorative materials. In addition, the inherent surface roughness of resin composites was evaluated profilometrically after a toothbrush abrasion procedure. A one-sided t-test analysis was performed to outline significant differences between the surface roughness value of enamel facets and that of the respective composite samples. A surface roughness of 0.64 +/- 0.25 micron (mean +/- S.D.) was found for the enamel-to-enamel contact areas.