Saliva Contamination Tolerance of 3M™ Scotchbond™ Universal Plus Adhesive

Objectives: This study investigated the potential effect of human saliva contamination on the shear bond strength (SBS) to enamel and dentin with 3M™ Scotchbond™ Universal Plus Adhesive (SBUP, 3M).
Methods: Bovine incisors were embedded in cold-cure acrylic resin. The labial surface of each tooth was ground to expose enamel or dentin. Half of the surfaces were contaminated with human saliva and blotted with a tissue. The other half were bonded with no contamination. A cylindrical button of 3M™ Filtek™ Z250 Universal Restorative A3 (2.36mm diameter, 2mm height) was cured on the contaminated and clean tooth surfaces treated with SBUP in self etch (SE) mode and in etch&rinse / total etch (TE) mode after a 15s phosphoric acid etch (n=6). After storage of the specimens in demineralized water at 36°C for 24h, SBS was measured according to ISO 29022:2013.
Results: The table shows the mean SBS in MPa. The standard deviations (SD) are given in parentheses. All data were analyzed by ANOVA and multiple comparisons using the Tukey test (p<0.05). Means with the same letters are statistically the same.
Conclusions: No statistically significant differences were found between saliva contaminated and uncontaminated surfaces. Saliva contamination prior to adhesive application had no negative impact on the bond strength of SBUP for both enamel and dentin whether bonded in the self-etch or total etch application mode.