What is the clinical relevance of in vitro dentine permeability tests?

This paper reviews the effect of dentine permeability on the bond strength of dentinal bonding systems and its relationship with the morphology of dentine. Deep dentine is more permeable than superficial dentine. Demineralization of dentine surfaces with acidic conditioners significantly increases permeability with respect to dentine covered by a smear layer. Several primers apparently leave intact smear layers as seen by scanning electron microscopy, but greatly increase the fluid filtration towards the dentine suggesting several modifications in the smear layer. Previous generations of dentinal bonding systems have been shown to be extremely sensitive to dentine humidity and permeability. By contrast, contemporary dentine bonding systems are not influenced by wet dentine. According to the Poiseuille-Hagen equation, small changes in the functional diameter of dentinal tubules can greatly modify permeability. Restorative materials are able to reduce the permeability of prepared dentine subject to location.