Universal Adhesive Bond Performance in Randomized Clinical Trials: A Literature Review

Purpose of the review: The purpose of this review was to summarize the existing clinical trials that evaluated the clinical performance of the universal adhesive bond when used with total-etch or self-etch mode by reviewing related literature. The review was done in Seluk University, College of dentistry, by using the electronic library of the university. Study selection: An electronic search was conducted in EBSCOhost, PubMed, Wiley online library, Science direct databases. The following main keywords were used: universal adhesive bond, universal bond, universal adhesive bond clinical trial and clinical trial of universal adhesive bond. We included the clinical trials that evaluated the clinical performance of universal adhesive bonds whether by using etch-and-rinse (wet or dry) or self-etch strategy (with or without selective enamel etching). We also included some clinical trials that evaluated the clinical performance of the traditional self-etch adhesive bond. Result: Only three clinical studies related to universal adhesive bond have been found and taken into consideration for the present review and some other clinical studies related to the traditional self-etch adhesive are also reviewed. Conclusions: On the basis of the limited reviewed studies, it can be concluded that currently there are no long-term clinical trials that evaluate the clinical performance of the universal adhesive, except for some clinical studies that evaluated its performance in noncarious cervical lesions. For this reason, it may be early to decide whether this adhesive (universal adhesive) is the ideal adhesive for all cases. For the reviewed studies, the universal adhesive showed acceptable clinical performance in NCCLs, especially when used in total or selective etch mode, and showed a decreased performance in marginal integrity when used in self-etch mode in the long-term evaluation.