Effect of dentinal surface preparation on the bonding of self-adhesive luting cements

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the bond strength and the interaction morphology of self-adhesive resin luting cements (SLCs) to dentin prepared with different methods. Four SLCs were used: RelyX U100®, RelyX U200®, Clearfil SA Luting®, and SmartCem2®. A flat dentin surface of 40 human molars was exposed and each tooth was sectioned in four tooth-quarters, which were distributed into four groups according to the SLC used to cement indirect resin composite restorations. The tooth-quarters of each group were then distributed in four subgroups according to the method used for dentin preparation: flat-ended cylindrical fine-grit diamond, flat-ended cylindrical median-grit diamond, flat-ended cylindrical plain-cut tungsten carbide, or abraded with #600-grit SiC paper (control). The restored tooth-quarters were sectioned to obtain beams (0.8 mm2) and submitted to the microtensile bond strength test (n = 10). The results were analyzed using two-way ANOVA/Tukey (α = 0.05). Forty-four additional teeth were used for micromorphological investigation of the SLC/dentin interface and of the topographic aspect of the dentin surfaces after application of the SLCs. Only the bond strength of RelyX U200 was significantly influenced by the surface preparation. No interference was identified on the micromorphological aspect of the bonding interfaces. The topographic investigation of the dentinal surfaces showed that the SLCs were not able to effectively remove the smear layer and etch the underlying dentin, irrespective of the preparation method. So, the interference of the dentin preparation on the bond strength of SLCs is material dependent, but don’t influence the micromorphologic aspect of the interaction zone.