Clinical evaluation of total-etch and self-etch bonding systems for preventing sensitivity in Class 1 and Class 2 restorations.

The author conducted an in vivo investigation to compare the clinical performance of 4 commercial bonding agents on postoperative sensitivity. Restorations in this study were limited to Class I and Class II lesions. The patient pool consisted of 36 patients and 72 teeth (2 teeth per patient) with either a Class I or Class II lesion > 1 mm in depth present in both teeth. The 4 adhesives tested in this study were distributed among patients as follows: on the first tooth, 12 patients received an application of adhesive 1, 12 received adhesive 2, and 12 received adhesive 3. All 36 patients received an application of adhesive 4 on the second tooth. All lesions were restored using a submicron particle hybrid composite. One-day and 1-week recall evaluations to measure sensitivity were taken by administrative staff in-office and by telephone. An independent clinician assessed the 1-month recall of each patient with the patient present in a clinical setting. No statistically significant differences were seen among the groups at any recall interval; however, the fourth adhesive performed consistently better than the other 3 at all intervals. All 4 bonding agents performed with clinically acceptable outcomes after a 30-day period. Certain lesion, tooth, and patient characteristics may predispose restorations to sensitivity.