Adherence of Streptococcus gordonii to smeared and nonsmeared dentine

The purpose of this study was to investigate the adherence of Streptococcus gordonii to smeared and nonsmeared dentine and to assess the influence of patent dentinal tubules on bacterial retention. In order to examine bacterial adherence, 10 non-smeared (group 1) and 10 smeared samples (group 2) of outer root dentine were prepared from teeth exhibiting dentine sclerosis. Ten non-smeared samples from inner coronal root dentine that did not exhibit sclerosis were prepared in order to study the influence of patent tubules on bacterial retention (group 3). Cells of the bacterium were radioactively labelled and an adhesion assay was performed. The number of bacteria adhering to the dentine surface was determined by scintillation counting. The results show that the number of bacteria adhering to both smeared and non-smeared outer sclerotic dentine was low (0.3% of inoculum), and there was no significant difference between the groups (P > 0.3). A significantly higher number of bacteria was retained on the inner non-smeared coronal root dentine (P < 0.0001) compared to groups 1 or 2. The results suggest that dentinal smear layers do not enhance or impede bacterial adherence to the dentine matrix. Dentinal surfaces with patent dentinal tubules retain more bacteria than a smeared surface.