Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the adhesion of glass ionomer cements to dentin and the effect of pretreatment using Carisolv.
Study design: Forty extracted permanent teeth with caries were used for this study. All lesions were removed using the Carisolv system and teeth were divided into eight groups. Groups 1 to 4 were filled with three types of conventional glass ionomer cements and a resin modified glass ionomer cement. Group 8 was restored with composite resin. In the remaining three groups (Groups 5 to 7), several pretreatment procedures, including EDTA and dentin primer application and a combination of these, were performed before restoring with resin modified glass ionomer cement. All restorations were thermocycled, and microleakage tests were performed on all teeth.
Results: There were no statistical differences among Groups 1, 2 and 3 or between Groups 4 and 8. However Groups 1 to 3 had higher microleakage levels than Groups 4 and 8. Groups 5 to 7 showed similar leakage levels as Group 4.
Conclusion: Pretreatment with EDTA or dentin primer did not improve bonding ability. Combination of caries removal using Carisolv and a resin modified glass ionomer cement restoration without pretreatment seems to be an acceptable method for caries treatment.