Background: Alternative pretreatment strategies of dentin and adhesionare constantly being developed and studied with the goal of improving the adhesion of resin restorative materials with this tissue. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the ability of airborne-particle abrasion (APA) with aluminum oxide on dentin to remove the smear layer and the effects produced on the dentin microstructure.
Materials and methods: The phosphoric acid (PA) was used for a comparison. For that, 20 human third molars were randomly allocated into two experimental groups, according to the dentin pretreatment method used: G1 (N = 10) - PA, G2 (N = 10) -APA. For dentin surface analyses, an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) was employed to observe dentin surfaces before and after the procedures. Before pretreatment, the specimens of both groups were smear covered.
Results: After pretreatment, the G1 images revealed dentin tubule orifices opened, enlarged and some erosive effects. (G2) exposed tubule orifices without enlargement, but crack-like alterations were observed on the surfaces. In this way, APA with aluminum oxide was able to remove the smear layer.
Conclusion: The influences of the dentin roughness on adhesion and the consequences on dentin integrity and hardness need further investigations.
Clinical significance: A good conditioning of the dentin before cementation is necessary in order to obtain a satisfactory rehabilitation in adhesive dentistry. So, it is necessary to know all methods to do it.
Keywords: Airborne-particle abrasion; Aluminum oxide; DeDeus G; Etching; Morsch CS; Quinelato V; Reis CM. Morphological Analysis of Dentin Surface after Conditioning with Two Different methods: Chemical and Mechanical. J Contemp Dent Pract 2016;17(1):58-62. Source of support: Nil Conflict of interest: None.; Scanning electron microscopy; Smear layer. How to cite this article: Rafael CF.