Dentin permeability and restorative dentistry: a status report for the American Journal of Dentistry

Most dental materials permit of microleakage because oral fluids and bacteria commonly gain access to dentin surfaces. Dentin is permeable and allows the bidirectional movement of materials from the oral cavity, across dentin to the pulp and vice versa. The pupal irritation associated with microleakage is often dictated by the permeability of dentin. Thick dentin covered with a smear layer is a better barrier than thin dentin with the smear layer removed, while coronal dentin is more permeable than root dentin. Carious dentin is less permeable than normal dentin, but freshly cut dentin is more permeable than previously prepared dentin. This is partly due to the movement of large plasma proteins from the pulpal blood vessels into dentin. The pulpal circulation contributes to the health of the pulp by supplying nutrients and by removing toxic material that diffuses across dentin via the microcirculation. Thus, there is a delicate balance involving the rate bacterial products diffuse around microgaps between restorative materials and dentin, the rate these materials permeate across dentin and the rate they are removed during pulpal circulation.