Trends in indirect dentistry: 4. performance of adhesive restorations

Restorations which may be bonded to tooth substance hold advantages over traditionally-luted restorations, including reduced requirement for resistance and retention form. There is evidence that adhesive techniques are becoming increasingly used, but is their performance as good as more traditional restorations? This paper reviews the success rates of adhesively-luted indirect restorations, concluding that these require less tooth reduction than non-adhesive restorations, although performance in terms of debond/loss of restoration may not always be as good as in traditional techniques.

The use of adhesive techniques should result in less reduction of tooth substance and may be of value where retention is suboptimal.