EFFECT OF AIR-FLOW POLISHING ON SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF COMPOSITES AND PORCELAINS

Purpose: the aim of this study was an evaluation to the affect of air-flow polishing on composite and porcelain specimens. materials and methods: one hybrid and one nano-hybrid composite systems were used for this study. experimental groups which were 2 mm thickness and 10 mm diameter were consist of; metal- supported and metal-free porcelains, microhybrid and nanofil composites. totally 4 groups of 10 specimens each according to material type. results according to two way analysis of variance there was no differences after air flow applying to specimens (p>0.05). there was statistically significant differences according to t test results among groups before and after air flow applying (p<0.05) but no differences was observed between porcelain and composite groups in terms of surface roughness. conclusion air flow is an easy and time-saving technique, but it induced rougher surfaces on restorative materials, therefore re-polishing process may be applied on restorative materials after air-flow polishing.