Aim: The goal of this study was to evaluate nanoleakage within the hybrid layer yielded by etch-and-rinse and self-etch adhesive systems, with different solvents and compositions.
Materials and methods: Four adhesives were applied onto 20 human dentin disks: group A: Adper Scotchbond 1XT(™) (3M ESPE), group B: One Coat Bond(®) (Coltène Whaledent), group C: AdheSE(®) (Ivoclar Vivadent) and group D: Xeno-V(®) (Dentsply). The samples were immersed in aqueous ammoniacal silver nitrate for 24 hour, prepared and observed under field-emission scanning electron microscopy with backscattered electrons. Microphotographs were scanned and data were processed. The mean value and standard deviation were calculated. Kruskal- Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used (p < 0.05).
Results: All the adhesives showed nanoleakage within the hybrid layer: Adper Scotchbond 1XT(™) (218.5 µm ± 52.6 µm), One Coat Bond(®) (139.6 µm ± 79.0 µm), AdheSE(®) (92.7 µm ± 64.8 µm) and Xeno-V(®) (251.0 µm ± 85.2 µm). AdheSE(®) yielded less nanoleakage than Adper Scotchbond-1XT(™) (p = 0.003) and than Xeno-V(®) (p = 0.007). No other statistically significant differences were detected.
Conclusion: Two-step self-etch adhesive system (AdheSE(®)) might contribute for lower nanoleakage deposition and thus better performance in dentin adhesion.
Clinical significance: The two-step self-etch adhesive system showed the lowest nanoleakage deposition compared with the other adhesive systems evaluated, which seems to indicate a better behavior when a restoration is performed in dentin and possibly can lead to a durable adhesion along time.