HUMAN DENTIN AND THE DENTIN-RESIN ADHESIVE INTERFACE

Dentin, the inner hard tissue of teeth, is a complex hydrated composit e and forms the substrate for much of restorative dentistry. Current e fforts to improve restorative and preventive dentistry involve the dev elopment of effective bonds to this tissue. Modern bonding techniques involve etching the dentin to remove the mineral portion, leaving a co llagen network that can be infiltrated with a monomer and polymerized in place to form a mechanical bond. The objective of this study was to investigate the nature of the interfacial zone. called the resin-dent in interdiffusion zone, using scanning electron microscopy For charact erization and thickness measurements, X-ray tomographic microscopy for fracture characteristics and atomic force microscopy for the local mo dulus and hardness variations. (C) 1998 Acta Metallurgica Inc.