Color stability, surface roughness and microhardness of composites submitted to mouthrinsing action

objective:the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of mouth rinse solutions on color stability, surface roughness and microhardness of two composite resins. material and methods: fifty test specimens of each composite (filtek z250 and z350; 3m espe) were made using a teflon matrix (12x2 mm). color, surface roughness and knoop microhardness baseline measurements of each specimen were made and specimens (n=10) were immersed in 5 mouth rinse solutions: g1: distilled water (control), g2: plax classic, g3: plax alcohol-free; g4: periogard, and g5: listerine. final measurements of color, roughness and microhardness were performed and the results submitted to statistical analysis (2-way anova, bonferroni ’s test; p<0.05). results: the most significant color change was observed for z250 when immersed in listerine (p<0.05). z350 showed greater color change when immersed in plax alcohol-free (p<0.05), but with no significant difference for listerine (p>0.05). with regard to roughness, both composites showed significant changes when immersed in listerine in comparison with plax alcohol-free (p<0.05). microhardness of z350 was shown to be significantly changed when the composite was immersed in plax alcohol-free (p<0.05). conclusion: composite changes depended on the material itself rather than the mouth rinse solution used.