The immediate bonding effectiveness of contemporary adhesives is quite favorable, regardless of the approach used. In the long term, the bonding effectiveness of some adhesives drops dramatically, whereas the bond strengths of other adhesives are more stable. This review examines the fundamental processes that cause the adhesion of biomaterials to enamel and dentin to degrade with time. Non-carious class V clinical trials remain the ultimate test method for the assessment of bonding effectiveness, but in addition to being high-cost, they are time- and labor-consuming, and they provide little information on the true cause of clinical failure. Therefore, several laboratory protocols were developed to predict bond durability. This paper critically appraises methodologies that focus on chemical degradation patterns of hydrolysis and elution of interface components, as well as mechanically oriented test set-ups, such as fatigue and fracture toughness measurements. A correlation of in vitro and in vivo data revealed that, currently, the most validated method to assess adhesion durability involves aging of micro-specimens of biomaterials bonded to either enamel or dentin. After about 3 months, all classes of adhesives exhibited mechanical and morphological evidence of degradation that resembles in vivo aging effects. A comparison of contemporary adhesives revealed that the three-step etch-and-rinse adhesives remain the 'gold standard' in terms of durability. Any kind of simplification in the clinical application procedure results in loss of bonding effectiveness. Only the two-step self-etch adhesives approach the gold standard and do have some additional clinical benefits.

http://www.endoexperience.com/documents/DeMunketalDurabiltyofadhesionJDR.pdf

A Critical Review of the Durability of Adhesion to Tooth Tissue: Methods and Results

Bonding to tooth tissue can be achieved through an "etch&rinse," "self-etch" or "glass-ionomer" approach. In this paper, the basic bonding mechanism to enamel and dentin of these three approaches is demonstrated by means of ultramorphological and chemical characterization of tooth-biomaterial interfacial interactions. Furthermore, bond-strength testing and measurement of marginal-sealing effectiveness (the two most commonly employed methodologies to determine "bonding effectiveness" in the laboratory) are evaluated upon their value and relevance in predicting clinical performance. A new dynamic methodology to test biomaterial-tooth bonds in a fatigue mode is introduced with a recently developed micro-rotary fatigue-testing device. Eventually, today's adhesives will be critically weighted upon their performance in diverse laboratory studies and clinical trials. Special attention has been given to the benefits/drawbacks of an etch&rinse versus a self-etch approach and the long-term performance of these adhesives. Correlating data gathered in the laboratory with clinical results clearly showed that laboratory research CAN predict clinical effectiveness. Although there is a tendency to simplify bonding procedures, the data presented confirm that conventional three-step etch&rinse adhesives still perform most favorably and are most reliable in the long-term. Nevertheless, a self-etch approach may have the best future perspective. Clinically, when adhesives no longer require an "etch&rinse" step, the application time, and probably more importantly, the technique-sensitivity are substantially reduced. Especially "mild," two-step self-etch adhesives that bond through a combined micromechanical and chemical interaction with tooth tissue closely approach conventional three-step systems in bonding performance.

Buonocore memorial lecture, adhesion to enamel and dentin: current status and future challenges

Systematic review of the chemical composition of contemporary dental adhesives

Dental adhesion review: Aging and stability of the bonded interface

http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/odontologia/robertramirez/PDF/1.pdf

State of the art of self-etch adhesives

Re-mineralizing dentin using an experimental tricalcium silicate cement with biomimetic analogs.

Eight-year clinical evaluation of a two-step self-etch adhesive

Long-term elution of bisphenol A from dental composites.

Objectives
Inorganic polyphosphates are said to stimulate the activity of osteoblast-like cells in vitro. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vivo bone regeneration around implants treated with polyphosphoric acid (PPA) and phosphorylated pullulan (PPL).

Material and Methods
Two types of implants with different surface roughness (R1: Sa ≈ 0.23 μm; R2: Sa ≈ 1.35 μm) were treated with three solutions (distilled water, 10%wt PPA, or 10%wt PPL) prior to implantation in both tibia of twelve female white rabbits. Each animal received six implants randomly positioned according to their surface roughness and treatment: R1 + water; R1 + PPA; R1 + PPL; R2 + water; R2 + PPA; R2 + PPL. Animals were sacrificed after 1 or 4 weeks, and samples were prepared for histological and histomorphometrical analysis. Bone regeneration areas were evaluated for bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and bone fraction (BF) in areas 100 and 500 μm remote from the implant surface. Data were statistically analyzed by means of Friedman and Wilcoxon matched-pair tests (P < 0.05).

Results
After 1 week, bone tissue was rarely formed in the regeneration areas. After 4 weeks, implants treated with PPA presented higher ratios of BIC (R1 = 52.3 ± 13.1; R2 = 54.6 ± 11.0) than the ones treated with water (R1 = 24.1 ± 15.1; R2 = 32.4 ± 13.0). On the other hand, around the implant surface (100 μm), PPL-treated implants induced higher BF (R1 = 78.3 ± 34.1; R2 = 71.2 ± 21.8) as compared with the water-treated ones (R1 = 46.1 ± 22.0; R2 = 49.6 ± 21.0). At 500 μm, however, no statistically significant differences in BF were found among the groups evaluated (P > 0.05). Surface roughness influenced neither BIC nor BF.

Conclusions
Implant surface treatment with phosphate-containing polymers may positively influence osseointegration.

Bone tissue response to implant surfaces functionalized with phosphate‐containing polymers

PURPOSE (1) To determine the microtensile bond strength (µTBS) of self-adhesive (SA) composite cements to unetched/etched enamel and dentin, and (2) to characterize the cements' interaction with tooth tissue. METHODS 51 composite blocks were bonded to smear layer-covered enamel and dentin (three teeth per group). Four SA composite cements (Clearfil SA, G-CEM, RelyX Unicem, SmartCem2), and three multi-step composite cements, two used following an etch-and-rinse (E&R) approach (RelyX ARC, Variolink II 'E&R') and one used following a self-etch (SE) approach (Variolink II ' SE') were investigated. The cement-tooth specimens were perpendicularly sectioned into micro-specimens (1.0 × 1.0 mm) in order to measure the µTBS. The data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA followed by Tukey HSD (P< 0.05). 24 additional specimens (four teeth per group) were prepared for interfacial characterization using SEM. RESULTS The tested SA cements bonded equally well to enamel and dentin. Etching of enamel improved their bonding effectiveness, which however remained inferior to that of both E&R cements. SEM revealed a very similar interfacial ultrastructure at smear layer-covered enamel and dentin for the SA cements, exhibiting very superficial interaction at enamel and absence of a clearly detectable hybrid layer and resin tags in the dentin tubules. When the SA composite cements were applied to dentin free of a smear layer, regular and long resin tags were formed. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE No significant differences in bonding effectiveness were recorded for the self-adhesive composite cements when bonded to unetched/etched enamel and to dentin. Multi-step etch-and-rinse composite cements showed a better bonding effectiveness to enamel, although this could be approximated by the self-adhesive composite cements when enamel was acid-etched beforehand. On dentin, however, the bond strength of the etch-and-rinse composite cement RelyX ARC was superior.

Bart Van Meerbeek

Papers

Re-mineralizing dentin using an experimental tricalcium silicate cement with biomimetic analogs.

Eight-year clinical evaluation of a two-step self-etch adhesive

Long-term elution of bisphenol A from dental composites.

Bone tissue response to implant surfaces functionalized with phosphate‐containing polymers

Bond strength and cement-tooth interfacial characterization of self-adhesive composite cements.