Effect of smear layer treatment on dentin bond of self-adhesive cements

The purpose of this study was to compare the dentin bond strength of three self-adhesive cements with smear layer pretreatments using a calcium-chelating agent (EDTA) and deproteinizing solution (NaOCl) and to evaluate their interfacial characteristics. Smear layer-covered dentin surfaces were pretreated with EDTA for 60 s, NaOCl for 5 and 15 s, or none. Three self-adhesive cements; Clearfil SA luting (Kuraray Medical), Rely X Unicem clicker (3M ESPE) and Breeze (Pentron) were applied to the dentin surfaces. After 24-h water storage, shear bond strengths to dentin were determined. In addition, nanoleakage evaluation at the interface was performed using FE-SEM and EDS. EDTA-pretreatment significantly improved the bond strength of BR (p<0.05) and NaOCl-pretreatment for 15 s significantly improved the bond strength of RX (p<0.05). On the other hand, for SA, both pretreatments significantly decreased bond strength to dentin (p<0.05). Nanoleakage formation was observed in various amounts at the cement-dentin interfaces.