THE EFFECTS OF HOME BLEACHING ON THE HARDNESS OF AMALGAM FILLING

Dental bleaching has been considered as a feasible approach for dental esthetic, and many dental bleaching products can be seen in the market. Therefore, the side effect of such dental product should be studied. This study was aimed to determine the effect of carbamide peroxide-containing home bleaching agent on the hardness of dental amalgam surface structure. Forty amalgam filling specimens were divided into 4 groups, which consist of 3 treatment groups and 1 controu group. Each group was exposed to the bleaching agent daily for 2, 4 and 8 hours within 7 days. The Vickers Microhardness Tester, with loads 98.07 mN for 20 seconds, was used to measure the hardness of amalgam surface. It was revealed that, there was a significant difference between the treatment and the control group on 8 hours period. It was concluded that there was a decrease in hardness of dental amalgam surface after having a contact with carbamide peroxide bleaching agent.