Self-etching adhesives: review of adhesion to tooth structure part II.
Self-etching adhesives are steadily increasing in popularity among dental practitioners with their easy handling technique and their promise of no post-op sensitivity. As with any new bonding material, in vitro and in vivo investigations are required to assess the clinical efficacy of these systems.


OBJECTIVE
The current literature was reviewed to provide information on these systems, including the influence of their acidity and permeability on the quality of the bond, the role of water in long-term degradation of the bond in in vivo and in vitro studies, and the clinical efficacy of the self-etching adhesives in clinical research studies.


METHODS
Published abstracts, reviews, laboratory reports and clinical research papers in the dental literature.


CONCLUSIONS
Very little information is available on self-etching systems pertaining to the long-term in vitro and in vivo durability of their bond and their medium- to long-term clinical outcome. Although post-op sensitivity seems to be something of the past, short-term clinical studies show that some self-etching adhesives do not perform as well as total-etch systems.
Strydom
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C
Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape. cstrydom@uwc.ac.za
D000134:Acid Etching, Dental; D000269:Adhesives; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D001840:Dental Bonding / Q000379:methods; D003763:Dental Leakage; D003806:Dentin Permeability; D017220:Dentin-Bonding Agents; D004344:Drug Incompatibility; D006801:Humans; D019279:Resin Cements; D016369:Smear Layer
D000269:Adhesives; D017220:Dentin-Bonding Agents; D019279:Resin Cements