The science Of heated composite

When composite is heated, the physical properties of the material are modified. Many of these

modifications can help make it easier to handle the composite and enable a better adaptation of

the material to our preparations. What happens to composites as they heat? At a microscopic level,

the particles of composite experience an increase in kinetic energy and move faster than their

room-temperature counterparts. This increased movement Of monomers and free radicals in

heated composite increase the degree of conversion when curing and may also even increase the

depth of cure.2,31n addition, heating composite will change the consistency of the material. When it

is warmed, packable composite can become less viscous in nature. This results in a packable

composite that handles more like a flowable resin When placing a heated composite, the ability of

the material to flow enables a better adaptation Of the composite to the prep and can reduce the

incidence of voids in the restoration and improve the marginal adaptationZ4 Heated composite

can also lead to a decrease in sorption and solubility compared with room temperature composite.

How can composite be heated

There are a host of different ways to heat composite materials. Various dental specific composite

heating units are on the market that can hold compules in a composite gun for easy

accessRegardless of how you heat your composite, it's important to heat your material to at least 60

C (140 F)5 and place the material shortly after removing the composite from the heat source. As

soon as two minutes after it's been removed, composites loose approximately half of their heat.

Effect Of composite temperature on in vitro intrapulpal temperature rise.

Results : Significant differences were found in intrapulpal temperature when comparing pre-heated

and room-temperature composite treatments with respect to baseline among the stages Of the

restorative process. However, the extent of this increase with heated composite was only 0.8 degrees

C. A 5 degrees C intrapulpal temperature rise was seen for all groups during photopolymerization.

Significance: Use Of pre-heated composite only mildly increased intrapulpal temperature values

when compared to composite delivered at room-temperature in an in vitro test environment The

largest temperature change occurred with application of the curing light.