Abstract
We evaluated the use of aqueous solutions containing an acid and metal chloride as a tooth surface pretreating agent.Nineteen solutions containing 10% acetic(AA), citric(CA), lactic(LA)or phosphoric acid(PA)and/or 0.11M aluminum(Al), cupric(Cu)or ferric chloride(Fe)were prepared.The tensile bond strengths of the TBB-O initiated MENTA resin to tooth surfaces treated with the respective aqueous solutions were measured.The amount of dissolved Ca by each of the solutions was determined.The demineralization of tooth surface was mainly dependent on the pH of the aqueous solutions.There was no specific relationship between the bond strength and amount of dissolved Ca.This suggests that a high bond strength can be obtained without serious demineralization.Pretreatment with the CA-Cu, CA-Fe or LA-Cu solution markedly enhanced the bond strengths to both enamel and dentin, altough these solutionsdemineralized tooth surface less than the solutions containing 10% PA.
