Flowable Resin Composites: A Systematic Review and Clinical Considerations

Abstract

Background: Little is known about flowable composite materials. Most literature mentions conventional composite materials at large, giving minimal emphasis to flowables in particular. This paper briefly gives an in depth insight to the multiple facets of this versatile material.

Aim: To exclusively review the most salient features of flowable composite materials in comparison to conventional composites and to give clinicians a detailed understanding of the advantages, drawbacks, indications and contraindications based on composition and physical/mechanical properties.

Data sources: A thorough literature search from the year 1996 up to January 2015 was done on PubMed Central, The Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, and Google Scholar. Grey literature (pending patents, technical reports etc.) was also screened. The search terms used were "dental flowable resin composites".

Search strategy: After omitting the duplicates/repetitions, a total of 491 full text articles were assessed. As including all articles were out of the scope of this paper. Only relevant articles that fulfilled the reviewer's objectives {mentioning indications, contraindications, applications, assessment of physical/mechanical/biological properties (in vitro/ in vivo /ex vivo)} were considered. A total of 92 full text articles were selected.

Conclusion: Flowable composites exhibit a variable composition and consequently variable mechanical/ physical properties. Clinicians must be aware of this aspect to make a proper material selection based on specific properties and indications of each material relevant to a particular clinical situation.

Keywords: Composite; Fracture toughness; Microleakage; Polymerization shrinkage.

Figures

[Table/Fig-1]:

Flowchart of the review process

[Table/Fig-3]:

Summarizes the influence of reduced filler content on the various properties of flowable composite materials