Surface roughness of resin-based composites

The study "Surface characterisation of resin-based composite materials using atomic force microscopy" was successfully presented by Ana Ergic and Dejan Nedeljkovic at the IADR-CED conference in Munich. Click on the image to enlarge the poster. Ana and Dejan are my former students who were involved in this study as part of their student research project. They have recently graduated at the University of Belgrade School of Dentistry.
I'd like to point out that a custom-made device was used in this study to standardise mechanical aging which was performed as a series of brushing cycles using commercial toothbrushes and abrasive toothpaste.

More recent RBCs showed lower surface roughness values before and after aging compared to the control mycrohybrid RBC, Filtek Z250. Surface roughness for N'Durance was found to be similar before and after aging whilst Tetric EvoCeram and Filtek Silorane showed increased roughness after aging.
Keywords: dental materials, resin-based composites, roughness, AFM