SEM in the Studies on Dentine Adhesives

The studies on the character of a connection between dentine and an adhesive material can be conducted by different morphological methods. The aim of the paper presented was to compare different SEM techniques and to determine the most suitable method for studying the dentine adhesion. Sixteen teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons were used for the trial. The teeth were kept in 10% neutral formaline. The cavities of the Ist and Vth classes were prepared, and their surfaces were treated with dentine adhesives. For total-etch technique Prime bond or Single bond were used, in self-etching technique Xeno III or Prompt- L- Pop were applied. The teeth were fractured, and the fractured surfaces were studied in SEM. One half of each tooth was studied under low-vacuum technique (LowVac) using BSE and LVSTD detectors, the other was gold-coated and investigated under high vacuum (HiVac) using DET and BSE detectors. In both techniques a good connection between dentine and adhesive materials was found. In total-etch technique longer tags were observed regularly. HiVac technique provided a sharper and more distinct picture of the situation and enabled the studies in greater details. No substantial differences between the applied detectors were found. HiVac technique will be preferred in further studies on the quality of dentine adhesive techniques and materials. Keywords: SEM, dentine adhesives, etching techniques, electron microscopy, dentine hybridization