Dentin Permeability and Nanoleakage of Universal Adhesives in Etch-and-rinse vs Self-etch Modes

This study evaluates the reduction in dentin permeability (P) and the expression of nanoleakage in resin-dentin interfaces made with universal adhesives, comparing the self-etch mode of application with the etch-and-rinse mode of application. To measure dentin P at the baseline and after adhesive polymerization, 80 extracted noncarious human third molars (N=80) were sectioned to obtain 0.7-mm-thick midcoronal dentin disks. The specimens were randomly assigned to 8 groups according to the different adhesive systems and application modes used: Scotchbond Universal (SBU; etch-and-rinse [ER] mode vs self-etch [SE] mode), OptiBond XTR (OPT; etch-and-rinse mode vs self-etch mode), Clearfil Universal Bond Quick (CL; etch-and-rinse mode vs self-etch mode), and Adhese Universal (ADH; etch-and-rinse mode vs self-etch mode). A two-way analysis of variance with interaction was used to evaluate the P reduction differences among the groups (α=0.05). Sixteen additional 0.7-mm-thick dentin disks were similarly prepared and treated, immersed in 50 wt% ammoniacal silver nitrate, and then processed according to conventional methods for analysis under transmission electron microscopy. The differences in P reduction among the adhesives were significant (p=0.029). For OPT and ADH (p=0.0304 and p=0.0120, respectively), the P reduction was higher in the ER mode than in the SE mode. For CL and SBU, no differences in P reduction was observed between the two application modes (p>0.05). All the groups showed some pattern of nanoleakage. No adhesive system completely reduced dentin P. Dentin sealing was higher for OPT and ADH in the ER mode, while for SBU and CL, there was no difference between the two modes. All the adhesive systems showed nanoleakage.