Effect of 4-META adhesive on bond strength and marginal seal of amalgam restorations and repairs--an in vitro study.

ABSTRACT

Amalgam remains unchallenged as a posterior restorative material. But its inability to bond to the teeth leads to some amount of microleakage at the restoration-tooth interface with associated problems such as post operative sensitivity, pulpal complications etc. Also a broken amalgam restoration requires replacement which will further weaken the tooth structure. Recently, 4-META has been introduced which can graft amalgam and composite to enamel, dentin and old amalgam restorations. In this study, the bonding and marginal sealing abilities of 4-META was assessed both at the tooth-amalgam interface and old amalgam fresh amalgam interface.