Traditional Microscopic Techniques Employed in Dental Adhesion Research-Applications and Protocols of Specimen Preparation.

Microscopy is a traditional method to perform ex vivo/in vitro dental research. Contemporary microscopic techniques offer the opportunity to observe dental tissues and materials up to nanoscale level. The aim of this paper was to perform a literature review on four microscopic methods, which are widely employed in dental studies concerning the evaluation of resin-dental adhesive interfaces-confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).