Interactions between a collagen-binding adhesive and dental substrate

The adhesion between polymer adhesives and dentin involves the removal of minerals, by acid etching the dentin surface, to allow for monomer infiltration among collagen fibrils. However, instability within this hybrid layer has been observed, which may partially be attributed to a slow degradation of the collagen not protected by the adhesive. The objective of this work was to improve the stability of the hybrid layer by increasing the interactions between adhesives and collagen through the incorporation of a monomer that behaves reactively toward collagen in the adhesive. In this work, a control adhesive was prepared based on a chemical formulation containing Bis-GMA and HEMA, and was modified by incorporating different concentrations (5, 10, and 20%) of NSA (N-acryloxysuccinimide), which contains an ester group capable of interacting with primary amine. These experimental adhesives were applied to bovine dentin for the in vitro production of the interfacial layer, which was analyzed by Raman spectroscop...