[Microretention of plastic filling materials on acid etched enamel]

In order to study the strength of the physical bond between composite materials and acid etched enamel, various commonly used composites were applied to the conditioned surface of extracted young permanent bicuspids. The specimens were stored in saline at 37 degrees C for one week and nine weeks and then subjected to tensile strength test. The following composites were tested: Restodent, Nuva Seal/Nuva Fil, Cosmic, Smile, Adaptic and Concise Enamel Bond. The latter was used in 4 different ways. The results of the study indicate that all the tested materials have a fairly good retention on the conditioned enamel. However, when using Concise Enamel Bond, care must be taken not to let the pure, liquid resin polymerize on the enamel before applying the composite, because this will give a poor bonding between the enamel and the filling. In addition to the tensile strength test, the materials were submitted to scanning electron microscop, to examine their penetration ability into conditioned enamel. The results of this study seem to indicate that the resin part of viscous composites (Cosmic and Concise pastes) was able to penetrate into the crevices of the etched enamel as well as the more fluid types (Restodent, Nuva Seal and diluted Concise).