Treatment of saliva contamination of resin core foundation before adhesive luting

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of surface pretreatment on the shear bond strength of resin luting cement to saliva-contaminated resin core foundation. The surface free energy (γ^S) of the adherent surfaces was examined. The two-way analysis of variance revealed that the surface pretreatment and storage conditions had a significant effect on the strength of the bond to resin core foundation. The γ^S values of the saliva-contaminated group were significantly lower than those of the other groups, and they tended to improve after surface pretreatment. The tendency of improvement in γ^S values differed depending on the type of pretreatment agents. Surface treatment with solutions containing functional monomers is effective in removing saliva contaminants from the resin core foundation surfaces and in creating an effective bonding surface for the resin luting cement.