Dental education consists of both theoretical and practical learning for students to develop competence in treating patients clinically. When dental students encounter practical courses in their irst year as a new educational experience, they must also learn to evaluate themselves. Self-evaluation is an essential skill to learn for dental professionals to keep increasing their competence over the course of their careers. The aim of this study was to compare the assessment scores of second-and thirdyear dental students and the faculty in two consecutive preclinical practical exams in restorative dentistry courses in a dental school in Turkey. Faculty-and student-assigned scores were calculated from two consecutive preclinical examinations on tooth restorations performed on both artiicial casts and phantom patients. The students were formally instructed on grading procedures for tooth preparations, base and restoration placement, and polishing criteria. After each step, each item was assessed by faculty members, the student, and another student. The results indicated that the initial differences between second-year students' assessments of their own preclinical practical ability and that of the faculty decreased among the third-year students. Self-evaluation scores did not indicate whether the third-year students tended to over-or underestimate the quality of their own work. However, the second-year students not only overestimated themselves but thought they were above average. The results point to the need to develop students' self-insight with more exercises and practical training.

Objective:To investigate the effect of beverages’ temperature on the surface roughness, hardness, and color stability of a composite resin.Materials and Methods:Fifty specimens of the Filtek Z250 composite (3M ESPE, Dental Products, St.Paul, MN, USA) were prepared and initial roughness, microhardness, and color were measured. Then the specimens were randomly divided into five groups of 10 specimens each: Coffee at 70°C, coffee at 37°C, cola at 10°C, cola at 37°C, and artificial saliva (control). After the samples were subjected to 15 min × 3 cycles per day of exposure to the solutions for 30 days, the final measurements were recorded.Results:After immersion in beverages, the artificial saliva group showed hardness values higher than those of the other groups (P < 0.001) and the microhardness values were significantly different from the initial values in all groups except for the control group. Both cola groups showed roughness values higher than the baseline values (P < 0.05), while the other groups showed values similar to the baseline measurements. When ΔE measurements were examined, the 70°C coffee group showed the highest color change among all the groups (P < 0.05).Conclusion:High-temperature solutions caused alterations in certain properties of composites, such as increased color change, although they did not affect the hardness or roughness of the composite resin material tested.

Objectives:The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of delayed finishing/polishing on the surface roughness, hardness and gloss of tooth-coloured restorative materials.Methods:Four different tooth-coloured restoratives: a flowable resin composite- Tetric Flow, a hybrid resin composite- Venus, a nanohybrid resin composite- Grandio, and a polyacid modified resin composite- Dyract Extra were used. 30 specimens were made for each material and randomly assigned into three groups. The first group was finished/polished immediately and the second group was finished/polished after 24 hours. The remaining 10 specimens served as control. The surface roughness of each sample was recorded using a laser profilometer. Gloss measurements were performed using a small-area glossmeter. Vickers microhardness measurements were performed from three locations on each specimen surface under 100g load and 10s dwell time. Data for surface roughness and hardness were analyzed by Kruskal Wallis test and data for gloss were subjected to one-way ANOVA and Tukey test (P <.05).Results:The smoothest surfaces were obtained under Mylar strip for all materials. While there were no significant differences in surface roughness of immediate and delayed finished/polished Dyract Extra samples, immediately finished/polished Venus and Grandio samples showed significantly higher roughness than the delayed polished samples (P <.05). In Tetric Flow samples, immediately finishing/polishing provided smoother surface than delayed finishing/polishing (P <.05). The highest gloss values were recorded under Mylar strip for all materials. While delayed finishing/polishing resulted in a significantly higher gloss compared to immediate finishing/polishing in Venus samples (P <.05), no differences were observed between delayed or immediate finishing/polishing for the other materials (P>.05). The lowest hardness values were found under Mylar strip. Delayed finishing/polishing significantly increased the hardness of all materials.Conclusions:The effect of delayed finishing/polishing on surface roughness, gloss and hardness appears to be material dependent.

Etch-and-rinse adhesive systems can be a better choice for ensuring the long-term success of fissure sealants. SUMMARYAim: To compare the retention rates of a nanofilled occlusal fissure sealant placed with the use of an etch-and-rinse or a self-etch adhesive over 48 months.Materials and Methods: The authors enrolled 244 teeth, each with no restoration or sealant and no detectable caries, from 16 patients. The sealants were placed with Solobond M twostep etch-and-rinse adhesive or Futurabond NR one-step self-etch adhesive by four previously calibrated dentists using a table of random numbers. After completion of the adhesive application, a nanofilled sealant, Grandio Seal, was applied and light-cured. Two other calibrated examiners, who were unaware of which adhesive had been used, independently evaluated the sealants at baseline and at 12-, 24-, 36-, and 48-month recalls. Each sealant was evaluated in terms of caries formation being present or absent and retention using the following criteria: 1 = completely retained, 2 = partial loss, and 3 = total loss. The

Background: The aim of this study was to compare after 24 months the clinical performance of cervical restorations placed with the use of an etch-and-rinse and an all-in-one adhesive. Methods: Twenty-four patients with at least one pair of non-carious cervical lesions participated in this study. One hundred and twenty-three cervical lesions were restored (62 etch-and-rinse adhesive, Solobond M; 61 all-in-one adhesive, Futurabond NR). A nanohybrid resin composite, Grandio, was used as the restorative material. Restorations were evaluated according to modified USPHS criteria by two independent examiners. The survival rates of the restorations were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier estimator and log-rank test. The restorations in each category were compared using the Pearson chi-square test, while the performance of restorations at the baseline and at each recall time was evaluated by McNemar's test (p < 0.05). Results: The recall rate of patients was 100%. The retention rates were 82% and 75% at 6 months and 77% and 62% at 12 months for Solobond M and Futurabond NR, respectively. At the 24-month recall, the retention rate was 69% for Solobond M and 49% for Futurabond NR, and this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). No statistically significant difference was found for colour match, marginal staining, or marginal adaptation between the adhesives (p > 0.05). None of the restorations had secondary caries, loss of anatomical form, or surface texture changes. Conclusions: Cervical restorations placed with an etch-and-rinse adhesive showed higher retention than an all-in-one adhesive.