Abstract
There are increasing use of composite resin in the posterior teeth and the new indirect inlay technique was introduced for compensating much troubles faced in direct technique. Many researchers insisted that overall properties of restorative materials were enhanced by an additional curing but this technique still has a problems about using cement material. Resin inlay obtains retention force from friction and another adhesion to tooth structure. A shape of cavity preparation was noted but studies about cement thickness and bond strength with cavity divergency are rare. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of cavity divergency on cement thickness and bond strength of resin inlay. Cavities, which divergency was $6^{\circ}$, $16^{\circ}$, and $26^{\circ}$ in each group, were prepared and their divergency was verified by Adobe Photoshop program through the image capture with stereo microscope and FlexCam. Inlays were fixed into the cavities with a resin cement, Superbond and were handled under chemical (in 75% ethanol for 24 hrs.) and thermal stress (500 cycles from $5^{\circ}$ to $55^{\circ}C$). MXT 70 (x400) was used for measuring the cement thickness and bond strength was evaluated with a universal testing machine. Following results were obtained : 1. The cement thickness in Mean (S.D.) were; 35.58 (10.31)${\mu}m$ in $6^{\circ}$ group, 35.97 (10.49)${\mu}m$ in $16^{\circ}$ group, and 41.43 (9.33)${\mu}m$ in $26^{\circ}$ group. But there was no significant difference between groups. 2. The bond strength in Mean (S.D.) were ; 33.18 (5.53)kg in $6^{\circ}$ group, 23.47 (13.40)kg in $16^{\circ}$ group, and 19.75 (10.48)kg in $26^{\circ}$ group. $6^{\circ}$ group showed significantly higher value compared to $16^{\circ}$ and $26^{\circ}$ groups (p<0.05). Although the results of this study indicate $6^{\circ}$ divergency will be good for resin inlay, cavity preparation with this type will have lots of difficulties in manufacturing, try-in, and cementation procedures, such as deformation. So it is concluded that $16^{\circ}$ divergent cavity preparation is recommended in resin inlay technique.
