Surface roughness evaluation of nanofiller composite resin after immersion in 50% calamansi orange juice (Citrus microcarpa)

ABSTRACT Nano-filled composite resin is a composite resin that has nano-sized fillers. This filler size gives an aesthetic appearance to the composite resin thus resembles natural teeth. However, composite resin has a disadvantage in its polymer matrix, which is easily degraded by acid solutions. Calamansi orange (Citrus microcarpa) is a solution that has acidic properties. The purpose of this research was to determine the surface roughness value of nanofiller composite resin after immersed in a 50% concentration of calamansi orange (Citrus microcarpa). Ten cylindrical specimens of nano-filled composite resin (Filtex Z350 XT 3M ESPE), with 5 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness. The specimens were immersed for 14 days with the provisions of 5 minutes in the juice of calamansi orange and 23 hours 55 minutes in distilled water. Calamansi orange juice is replaced every day. The evaluation of surface roughness of specimens before and after immersion using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Furthermore, the data were analyzed using paired t-test with a significant value is p <0.05. The results showed an increase in the average value of surface roughness which was significant after exposure in the calamansi orange with 50% concentration. KEYWORDS: Atomic Force Microscopy, Citrus microcarpa), surface roughness, .nanofilled composite