Dental Adhesives

Dental adhesives can be broadly broken up into four categories: universal, total-etch, self-etch and selective-etch. These terms refer to the technique used with the dental adhesive, which also are referred to as bonding agents. Universal dental adhesives are formulated to work with all three etching techniques. Dental adhesives may be self-cure, light-cure or dual cure, curing times vary between products but are usually under 30 seconds. Solvents differ based on dental adhesive formulas but are usually water, ethanol or acetone. When choosing a dental adhesive some factors to take into account are incidence of post-operative sensitivity, bond strength, ease of use and workability as well as compatibility with resin cement systems. Also be sure to select the best dental adhesive for the procedure, for example, an enamel procedure is best suited by a total-etch adhesion, whereas a largely dentin preparation may be better serviced by a self-etching adhesion. Research the best dental adhesive for your specific needs.