Aim: This study evaluated microleakage at the interface between various temporary restorative materials and existing amalgam or composite restorations, and dental tissues in previously restored teeth after partial removal of the restoration.
Materials and methods: The distal half of amal gam (Ag) and composite restorations (Co) in 45 teeth were removed, then filled with temporary restorative materials (IRM, Coltosol and CLIP). After thermal cycling, microleakage was measured microscopically as the penetration of basic fuchsine according to a four-unit-scale: The data were evaluated with Friedman and Kruskal-Wallis tests using Bonferroni correction (p < 0.05).
Results: In almost all groups except the Co-IRM and Ag-CLIP interface, lower microleakage values were observed in temporary restoration-permanent restoration interfaces compared to temporary restoration-tooth interfaces. For the Ag and Co groups except for the Ag-IRM-b interfaces, the highest microleakage values were observed with IRM for b and c interfaces followed by Coltosol and CLIP. Interestingly, although CLIP was a temporary restoration, CLIP-tooth interface (Ag-CLIP-c) values were lower than amalgam-tooth interface (Ag-CLIP-a) values.
Conclusions: CLIP provided a better seal against microleakage at amalgam and especially composite interfaces. This material also provided a better seal against microleakage at the tooth tissue interface. The use of a resin based temporary restorative material over partially removed resin composite restorations could be beneficial in achieving better resistance to marginal leakage. Within the limitations of this study, maintaining partially removed permanent restorations does not seem to cause a problem with achieving marginal seal.