Effect of various cleaners and mordants to bond strength of light curing glass ionomer cements to dentin

128 freshly extracted human molars were used to study the interaction between dentinal smear layer removal with various agents, and the shear bond strength of a light cured glass ionomer cement to dentin. It was proposed that the removal of smear layers using acidic cleaners followed by incorporation of Fe mordant with dentin could enhanced the infiltration of monomer component in light curing glass ionomer cement and resulted in a high bond strength. For the first treatment process for removal of smear layers on the surfaces of dentin, 50 % citric acid, 10% maleic acid and 10 % phosphoric acid were used, and for the second treatment process, 15% ferric chloride, 6.8% ferric oxalate or 30% potassium oxalate were used. Distilled water was used as a control. After double sequential treatment on dentin, a light curing glass ionomer cement was bonded to dentin. After being immersed in water at 31'C for 24 hours, shear bond strengths were measured Instron testing machine(Model No.4202, USA). Surface changes were also observed using SEM (Hitachi, S-2300, Japan) after treatment process with each agents. The following conclusions were drawn : 1. Dentin surface cleaned with maleic acid and treated with ferric oxalate showed the highest bond strength with light curing glass ionomer cement. 2. Bond strengths of glass ionomer cement to dentin treated with maleic acid or citric acid were the highest, and that treated with phosphoric acid showed the lowest. 3. The effect of ferric oxalate on shear bond strength to dentin was always higher than that of ferric chloride. 4. The smear layers were clearly removed and the orifices of dentinal tubules were opened widely by the citric acid, maleic acid and phosphoric acid. 5. The orifices of dentinal tubules opened after using the first solution were closed with the treatment of ferric chloride. 6. The precipitate like crystals were formed on dentin surfaces and tubules, but a significant decrease in bond strength of glass ionomer cement to dentin surface treated with potassium oxalate.