Abstract

The use of electric current during application of etch-and-rinse adhesive systems has been recently introduced to decrease microleakage. This study investigated the effects of an electric field produced by an experimental device for the application of a two-step etch-and-rinse adhesive on moist dentin surface. Sixty freshly extracted human premolars were used for this study. In order to simulate real conditions, the pulpal pressure was set to 35 cm H2O for all the specimens. The teeth were divided into two groups: Group N1: Etch-and-rinse system (Single bond) applied with electric current, and group 2: Etch-and-rinse system (Single bond) applied without electric current Specimens were prepared for dye penetration test. The data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. The results showed that group 1 demonstrated the least microleakage scores compared to group 2. As a result of these findings, it could be concluded that using electric current for applying adhesive systems had a statistically significant effect on reducing microleakage.

Key words: Dental bonding systems, electric current, micrileakage.