Effects of oxalate on dentin bond after 3-month simulated pulpal pressure.

OBJECTIVES: Application of an acidic oxalate solution forms calcium oxalate within dentinal tubules and has been used to desensitize dentin and may also improve performance by reducing internal dentin wetness during bonding. The hypothesis tested was that oxalate restriction of dentinal fluid transudation when using an etch-and-rinse two-step adhesive will improve microtensile bond strength (muTBS) and reduce nanoleakage. METHODS: Occlusal dentin of 60 human molars were bonded (Adper Single Bond Plus, 3M ESPE) while one-half of each tooth received either a liquid (SuperSeal, Phoenix Dental) or gel (BisBlock, Bisco) oxalate treatment after acid etching. The restored teeth were placed under pulpal pressure for 3 months before forming cylindrical dumbbell specimens for muTBS and failure pathway determination. Additional teeth were prepared and stored in a similar manner for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examination of nanoleakage after tracer immersion. RESULTS: The mean bond strength in the group with oxalate liquid and the control group was 27.06+/-7.14 and 36.18+/-9.07 MPa, respectively, and for the gel form of oxalate was 25.34+/-13.09 and 33.09+/-14.25 MPa, respectively. The control groups were significantly stronger than either oxalate group using t-tests (liquid p<0.00001; gel p=0.0032) or Weibull (liquid p=0.0002; gel p=0.0029) statistics. Oxalate groups also demonstrated more adhesive failure modes and nanoleakage. CONCLUSIONS: Under the conditions of this study, the application of oxalate with an etch-and-rinse two-step bonding system produced significantly lower long-term muTBS and enhanced nanoleakage.

Resin-dentin bond strength as related to different surface preparation methods.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the microtensile bond strength and micromorphological structures on bonding of two adhesives (OptiBond FL and Clearfil SE Bond) to dentin surfaces ground with different preparation methods. METHODS: Extracted human molars were ground flat to expose mid-coronal occlusal dentin surface with one of six preparation methods--P120 grit SiC paper, P400 grit SiC paper, P1200 grit SiC paper, medium grit diamond bur, fine grit diamond bur, and carbide bur. Each of the adhesives was used to bond resin-based composite to the dentin surface. Dumbbell-shaped specimens were fabricated and microtensile bond strengths were determined. The subsequent debond pathway and micromorphological structures of representative dentin surfaces were examined under scanning electron microscopy. ANOVA and survival analyses were performed both assuming independence from and accommodating for within-tooth correlation between specimens. RESULTS: By ignoring the correlations between specimens, statistical analyses revealed no surface preparation effect on microtensile bond strength for each adhesive system. However, effects of surface preparation method on dentin adhesion of both adhesives were detected when accommodating for any within-tooth specimen correlations. Overall, carbide bur group showed the lowest bond strength for both OptiBond FL and Clearfil SE Bond. Dentin surfaces ground with diamond burs tended to present more compact smear layer than those ground with SiC papers and, subsequently, produced an effect on resin-dentin bond strengths. CONCLUSIONS: The dentin surface preparation method affects smear layer characteristics and dentin surface topography and, therefore affects resin-dentin bond strength. Smear layer denseness, more so than thickness, may compromise bonding efficacy of adhesives, especially of the self-etch systems.