Effect of artificial saliva contamination on adhesion of dental restorative materials

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of artificial saliva contamination on three restorative materials, namely, a glass ionomer cement (GIC), a resin-modified GIC (RMGIC), and a composite resin (CR), for which two different etching adhesive systems were used. Thus, three surface conditions were created on bovine teeth using artificial saliva: control, mild saliva contamination, and severe saliva contamination. The dentin bond strength for CR was significantly lower after artificial saliva contamination. There were, however, no significant differences among the three surface conditions in terms of the dentin and enamel bond strengths of GIC and RMGIC. Moreover, CR exhibited significantly greater microleakage after artificial saliva contamination, whereas no significant differences were found in GIC and RMGIC. The results showed that artificial saliva contamination did not affect the shear bond strengths of GIC and RMGIC or their degrees of microleakage.