Reinforced glass-ionomer cements: The influence of conditioners on marginal leakage

Abstract

The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the influence of conditioners on the enamel and dentine margin sealing ability of three different reinforced glass-ionomer cements. Two Class V preparations were made on the buccal and lingual surfaces of 36 freshly extracted molar teeth. Preparations were solely in enamel or dentine/ cementum. The teeth were randomly divided into three groups of 12 and restored with either Ketac Silver® (KS), Hi-Dense® (HD) or Miracle-Mix® (MM) with and without (-C) their respective conditioners. All materials were capsulated and were manipulated according to the manufacturers' instructions. The restorations were finished as recommended by the manufacturers and then stored in saline at 37°C for 1 week, polished, thermally stressed, subjected to dye penetration, sectioned and scored. Rankings in the order of decreasing leakage were as follows: enamel margin KS > KS-C > HD-C > HD > MM > MM-C; dentine margin KS > HD-C > KS-C > HD> MM-C > MM. At the enamel margins, only HD showed a significant increase in leakage when conditioner was not used. At the dentine margin, however, KS had significantly more leakage than KS-C and HD-C had significantly more leakage than HD. There was no significant difference in leakage for MM both with and without conditioner. The influence of conditioners on marginal leakage appears to be both product and tissue specific. © 1997 Blackwell Science Ltd.