Polymerisation shrinkage versus layer thickness of a dentine bonding resin: Method development

Dentine bonding systems are usually unfilled, and so their shrinkage may be significant. High shrinkage may cause internal stress at the interface between resin-composite restoration and the dentine substrate. Failure of the adhesive interface may be observed due to the interna! stress. The aims of this study were:A) To obtain a suitable method for measuring the kinetics of polymerisation shrinkage in unfilled resm at different thicknesses, particularly for thin films.B) Consideraing the effect of thickness on shrinkage.Scotchbond Multipurpose (3M) adhesive bond resin was used. To overcome the particular challenges presented by thin films, a filled-ring measurement procedure was used. Also, a non-contact laser analogue displacement sensor system was developed and applied to measure polymerisation shrinkage. Regression analysis was performed on a complete data set. Non-linear regression analysis established a logarithmic relationship between polymerisation shrinkage and layer thickness. The method applied in this study was found to be sensitive and accurate procedure for determining photo-polymerisation shrinkage of thin films. Polymerisation shrinkage increased with logarithmic of the adhesive thickness.