The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of curing methods of adhesive resins and resin cements in the root canal. Crown portions of 32 single-rooted mandibular premolars were removed. Routine endodontic treatment was done, and 9 mm deep post spaces were prepared within root canals. No. 3 FRC Postec posts (Ivoclar-Vivadent AG, Liechtenstein) were cemented in the post spaces by self-(SC) or light-curing (LC) using two dual-cured adhesives (Adper Scotchbond multi-purpose plus and Exite DSC )and resin cements (RelyX ARC and Variolink II). They were assigned to 4 groups (n=8); R-SC, R-LC, V-SC, V-LC group.

After stored in distilled water for 24 hours, each root was transversally sectioned with 1.5 mm thick and made three slices. The specimens were subjected to push-out test in a universal testing machine (EZ Test, Shimadzu Co., Japan) with a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. The data were analyzed with repeated ANOVA and one-way.

ANOVA. Also the interface of post-resin cement and resin cement-canal wall of each group was observed under FE-SEM.

When fiber posts were cemented into the root canal using total-etch adhesives, the bond strength and adaptation between post and root canal dentin was affected by curing method. Self-cure of adhesives and resin cements showed higher bond strength and closer adaptation than light-cure of them.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of thickness, filling methods and curing methods on the polymerization of dual cured core materials by means of microhardness test.

Two dual cured core materials, MultiCore Flow (Ivoclar Vivadent AG, Schaan, Liechtenstein) and Bis-Core (Bisco Inc., Schaumburg, IL, USA) were used in this study. 2 mm (bulky filled), 4 mm (bulky filled), 6 mm (bulky and incrementally filled) and 8 mm (bulky and incrementally filled)-thickness specimens were prepared with light cure or self cure mode. After storage at 37℃ for 24 hours, the Knoop hardness values (KHN) of top and bottom surfaces were measured and the microhardness ratio of top and bottom surfaces was calculated. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Scheffe multiple comparison test, with α = 0.05.

The effect of thickness on the polymerization of dual cured composites showed material specific results. In 2, 4 and 6 mm groups, the KHN of two materials were not affected by thickness. However, in 8 mm group of MultiCore Flow, the KHN of the bottom surface was lower than those of other groups (p < 0.05). The effect of filling methods on the polymerization of dual cured composites was different by their thickness or materials. In 6 mm thickness, there was no significant difference between bulk and incremental filling groups. In 8 mm thickness, Bis-Core showed no significant difference between groups. However, in MultiCore Flow, the microhardness ratio of bulk filling group was lower than that of incremental filling group (p < 0.05). The effect of curing methods on the polymerization of dual cured composites showed material specific results. In Bis-Core, the KHN of dual cured group were higher than those of self cured group at both surfaces (p < 0.05). However, in MultiCore Flow, the results were not similar at both surfaces. At the top surface, dual cured group showed higher KHN than that of self cured group (p < 0.05). However, in the bottom surface, dual cured group showed lower value than that of self cured group (p < 0.05).