Purpose: The study aimed to measure the efficacy of 10-methacryloyloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate (10-MDP) saliva-decontamination protocols by measuring bonding effectiveness to saliva-contaminated dentin following different surface-decontamination protocols.
Materials and Methods: The micro-tensile bond strength (µTBS) of the two-step self-etch (SE) adhesive Clearfil SE Bond 2 (‘CSE2’, Kuraray Noritake) and the one-step SE adhesive Clearfil Universal Bond Quick (‘CUBQ’, Kuraray Noritake) to saliva-contaminated bur-cut dentin was measured when saliva-contaminated dentin was decontaminated by either the 10-MDP-containing Katana Cleaner (‘KC’, Kuraray Noritake) or CSE2 primer (‘CSE2p’), with bonding to saliva-contaminated (‘saliva(–)’) and non-contaminated dentin (‘clean(+)’) having served as negative and positive control, respectively. Half of the specimens were subjected to µTBS testing ‘immediately’ after 1-week water storage, while the other ‘aged’ half was tested after 50,000 thermocycles. Statistics involved linear mixed modeling (LMM) with restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimation (α = 0.05).
Results: Overall, the two-step SE adhesive CSE2 outperformed the one-step SE adhesive CUBQ. Saliva-contaminated dentin was most effectively decontaminated when CSE2p was applied with both adhesives, closely followed by KC decontamination. Notably, CSE2 demonstrated satisfactory performance even without separate decontamination.
Conclusion: Unaltered bonding to saliva-contaminated dentin was achieved upon surface decontamination with CSE2p and KC. Using CUBQ, additional decontamination with either CSE2p or KC is strongly recommended. In the case of CSE2, no additional decontamination agent is required.