Adhesive sealing of dentin surfaces in vitro: A review

Purpose: This review describes the evolution of the use of dental adhesives to form a tight seal of freshly prepared dentin to protect the pulp from bacterial products, during the time between crown preparation and final cementation of full crowns. The evolution of these "immediate dentin sealants" follows the evolution of dental adhesives, in general. That is, they began with multiple-step, etch-and-rinse adhesives, and then switched to the use of simplified adhesives. Methods: Literature was reviewed for evidence that bacteria or bacterial products diffusing across dentin can irritate pulpal tissues before and after smear layer removal. Smear layers can be solubilized by plaque organisms within 7-10 days if they are directly exposed to oral fluids. It is likely that smear layers covered by temporary restorations may last more than 1 month. As long as smear layers remain in place, they can partially seal dentin. Thus, many in vitro studies evaluating the sealing ability of adhesive resins use smear layer-covered dentin as a reference condition. Surprisingly, many adhesives do not seal dentin as well as do smear layers. Results: Both in vitro and in vivo studies show that resin-covered dentin allows dentin fluid to cross polymerized resins. The use of simplified single bottle adhesives to seal dentin was a step backwards. Currently, most authorities use either 3-step adhesives such as Scotchbond Multi-Purpose or OptiBond FL or two-step self-etching primer adhesives, such as Clearfil SE, Unifil Bond or AdheSE.