Influence of enamel prophylaxis on wettability of three commercially available orthophosphoric acids

An in vitro study was performed to assess the wettability of orthophosphoric acid after different procedures for cleaning the enamel surface. Ninety noncarious third molars were randomly distributed into three groups with different enamel surface treatments: an air-powder polisher unit, prophylaxis pastes, and no enamel surface cleaning. Three commercially available orthophosphoric acids were used, and there were 10 teeth in each group. Acid viscosity values and contact-angle measurements were obtained. Each enamel surface was also examined with the scanning electron microscope. Results suggested that the surface treatment with which the best spreading of the acid solution was attained was the air-powder polisher. The least spreading of the acid was obtained with prophylaxis pastes, in which contact angles were even higher than those obtained on the untreated enamel surface. The 3M acid solution was the one that showed the best spreading onto the enamel surface.