Retentive force and microleakage of stainless steel crowns cemented with three different luting agents

The aim of this investigation was to compare the tensile strength, microleakage, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) evaluations of SSCs cemented using different adhesive cements on primary molars. Sixty-three extracted primary first molars were used. Tooth preparations were done. Crowns were altered and adapted for investigation purpose, and then cemented using glass ionomer cement (Aqua Meron), resin modified cement (RelyX Luting), and resin cement (Panavia F) on the prepared teeth. Samples were divided into two groups of 30 samples each for tensile strength and microleakage tests. The remaining three samples were used for SEM evaluation. Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA and Tukey test. The statistical analysis of ANOVA revealed significant differences among the groups for both tensile strength and microleakage tests (p < 0.05). Tukey test showed statistically significant difference between Panavia F and RelyX Luting (p < 0.05), but none between the others (p > 0.05). This study showed that the higher the retentive force a crown possessed, the lower would be the possibility of microleakage.