Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This clinical study investigated the efficacy of the new LED LCU technology when compared to that of the QTH LCU by evaluating retention and wear of Clinpro (3M ESPE) sealant material over six months of function. This study was designed as a split mouth, randomized clinical study. Sealants were placed and polymerized on contralateral teeth of 35 patients, 33 of which successfully completed the study. The sealants were evaluated for clinical retention at baseline, three months, and six months by two evaluators. For the wear analysis, the area of the sealant wear at six months is reported. Nine pairs of molars and 22 pairs of premolar teeth were used. This sample size is smaller than the original sample used for clinical evaluation, because a number of the baseline impressions had to be discarded due to poor impression quality. Subsequent impressions were taken at three months, and six months. Epoxy replicas were made from the impressions and the occlusal surface of each replica was digitized using SigmaScan software. A cummulative legit model was applied to the clinical data, and a linear model was applied to the wear analysis. The results for clinical retention over the six months of function were as follows. At Baseline, for the QTH, 97.3 percent of the teeth received an Alpha score; 2.7 percent received a score of B. For the LED, 87.7 percent received a score of A; 12.3 percent received a score of B. At three months follow-up, for the QTH, 93.1 percent received a score of A; 6.9 percent received a score of B. For the LED, 86.1 percent received a score of A; 12.5 percent received a score of B, and 1.14 percent received a score of C. At six months follow-up, for QTH; 91.7 percent received a score of A; 8.3 percent received a score of B. For the LED, 83.3 percent received a score of A; 15.3 percent received a score of B, and 1.14 percent received a score of C. The hypothesis was that there would be no significant difference in clinical retention and wear of Clinpro's sealant polymerized with the QTH or the LED light sources over six months of function. Based on the results of this clinical study, the following conclusions can be made: 1) At baseline, Clinpro's sealant polymerized with QTH light source showed marginally significant better retention than LED light source (p-value 0.05001). 2) There was no significant difference between light sources for sealant clinical retention at three-month and six-month follow up visits. 3) Wear analysis resulted in marginally significant more wear for molar sealants polymerized with LED LCU (p-value 0.0755). 4) Wear analysis showed no significant difference for premolar sealants polymerized with either light source.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Reduction of the polymerization shrinkage stress inherent of dimethacrylate-based resin composites has been a work in progress since the phenomenon was first described by Dr. Rafael L. Bowen in 1967. Contemporary efforts to modify the composites or the curing protocols for polymerization have proven a challenging task with controversial results. Influenced by existing mathematical models relating exposure, curing time and depth of cure of resin composites, a novel method for the reduction of polymerization shrinkage stress is proposed. By polymerizing through a single aperture mask, a dental light curing unit is transformed from a planar light source to a point light source, and a fully cured, three-dimensional “bullet” shaped curing front is predicted for the cured resin below. So long as the edges of the bullet do not touch the cavity walls or floor, the shrinkage stress of the bullet is not transferred. Follow-up with an unmasked curing unit then fully polymerizes the restoration. By reducing the volume of uncured composite in contact with the cavity walls and floor, shrinkage stress of the restoration is also reduced. The objective of the present study was to demonstrate this curing phenomenon with a model resin composite using masks with aperture diameters of 0.5, 0.4, and 0.25 mm and curing times of 10, 20, 30, and 40 seconds. The resulting curing front was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. From this, mathematical models of the curing front were derived. Selected combinations of aperture mask and curing time were then investigated to evaluate the influence of this phenomenon on the degree of conversion, Knoop hardness, and polymerization shrinkage stress of the same model resin composite. Group differences were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA at 5% significance.