Effect of different prophylaxis methods on microleakage of microfilled composite restorations

Background and aims. this study was aimed at evaluating the effect of different prophylaxis methods on microleak-age of microfilled composite restorations.materials and methods. in this in vitro study, class v cavities were prepared on buccal surfaces of 84 bovine teeth. the teeth were restored with tetric n-bond adhesive and heliomolar composite resin. subsequent to a thermocycling procedure and three months of storage in distilled water, the teeth were randomly assigned to four groups (n=21): (1) prophylaxis with a rubber cup and pumice; (2) prophylaxis with a brush and pumice; (3) prophylaxis with air/powder polishing device; and (4) no prophylaxis (the control group). then the teeth were immersed in 2% basic fuchsin for 24 hours and sectioned for microleakage evaluation under a stereomicroscope. data were analyzed using kruskal-wallis and wilcoxon signed rankstests. statistical significance was defined at p<0.05.results. there were no statistically significant differences in occlusal and gingival microleakage between the groups (p=0.996 and p=0.860, respectively). in all the groups gingival margins exhibited significantly higher microleakage values compared to occlusal margins (p<0.0005).conclusion. prophylaxis methods had no adverse effect on marginal leakage of microfilled composite resin restorations