HANDLING PROPERTIES OF ADHESIVE RESIN CEMENTS
One product category that is particularly interesting for these evaluations is adhesive resin cements. Some dentists may remember working with early resin cement systems, which consisted of numerous different components and required acid etching, priming and bonding of the tooth structure, priming the restorative material, and meticulous moisture control. And when done correctly, the material – including the excess – adhered so well that it was barely removable. Newer resin cements offer less complicated procedures, but according to the PREP panel practitioners in a late 2019 evaluation, there was still room to simplify cementation protocols. The product combination these practitioners were asked to test and evaluate was the new 3M™ RelyX™ Universal Resin Cement (fig. 1) and the dedicated bonding agent 3M™ Scotchbond™ Universal Plus Adhesive. The cement is universal in that it works on its own as a self-adhesive resin cement, but it can also be combined with the universal adhesive to boost its bond strength where needed.