The clinical performance of one- and two-step self-etching adhesive systems at one year

The author compared the clinical performance of a two-step self-etching adhesive system and a one-step self-etching adhesive system over one year.

Thirty-five patients with noncarious cervical lesions were enrolled in the study. The author restored 163 lesions using a two-step (Clearfil Protect Bond, Kuraray, Osaka, Japan) or a one-step (Xeno III, Dentsply/DeTrey, Konstanz, Germany) self-etching adhesive system. Enamel margins were not beveled, and no mechanical retentions were placed. The author evaluted the restorations at baseline and at three, six, nine and 12 months after placement using modified Ryge criteria for color-matching ability, marginal discoloration, marginal adaptation, initial caries formation, anatomical form, postoperative sensitivity and retention loss.

The author assessed the changes in the parameters using the Cochran Q test and the McNemar test at a significance level of .05. At one year, the retention rates for the restorations in the two-step group were 100 percent; they were 96 percent for the restorations in the one-step group. Of the retained 75 restorations from the one-step group, two had marginal discoloration and slight anatomical form problems. In both groups, color-matching ability and postoperative sensitivity remained excellent.

The performance of both self-etching adhesive systems was excellent during this one-year clinical trial. However, the two-step system exhibited slightly better retention than the one-step system.

The one- and two-step self-etching adhesive systems evaluated in this study provided excellent clinical retention in noncarious lesions without mechanical retention.