Restorative procedures
Diamond fissure, carious, pain
POSTERIOR, CAVITY
One hundred restorations were placed in Class II cavities of 31 patients (17 males, 14 females) with an average age of 33 years. One week before the restorative procedures, dental prophylaxis was performed on participants and oral hygiene instructions were provided. All restorations were performed by the same researcher, who did not participate in the selection of study individuals. Teeth were cleaned with a slurry of pumice before preparations. Diamond fissure burs at high speed were used under water-cooling for preparations, whereas tungsten carbide burs with slow speed handpiece were used to remove carious tissues. If the patient felt pain or sensitivity, local anesthesia was applied. Tissue preserving cavity design was applied and the prepared cavities did not involve any cusps; additionally, the gingival walls were located supra gingivally. The cavities which did not meet these criteria were excluded. In deep cavities, a calcium hydroxide cavity liner (Life Regular Set, Kerr Corporation, Romulus, MI, USA) was placed. A sectional matrix was used before the application of restoratives. The teeth were restored either with an alkasite-based restorative (Cention N, Ivoclar Vivadent, Schaan, Liechtenstein [CN]) (n=50) or a RC (G-ænial Posterior GC, Tokyo, Japan [GP]) (n=50). Cotton rolls and saliva ejectors were used for isolation. The restorative materials used are shown in Table 2. Cention N was used without prior application of an adhesive system. Both restorative material systems were applied according to the manufacturers’ recommendations ( 
