Influence of curing modes and simulated oral environments on the sorption of silane-containing self-adhesive resin cements: an in vitro study

This in vitro study evaluated the effects of curing mode and immersion medium on the fluid sorption of two silane-containing self-adhesive resin cements. Disk-shaped specimens (15 mm × 1 mm) of BeautiLink SA and PANAVIA SA Luting Multi were prepared using an ISO 4049:2019-based protocol. Specimens were polymerized using either dual-curing or auto-curing mode and then immersed in distilled water, 20% ethanol, or 0.01 M lactic acid ( n = 10 per group) for 7 days at 37 °C. Fluid sorption was calculated in µg/mm³.Data were analyzed using three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA; resin cement × curing mode × immersion medium) and Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) post hoc test (α = 0.05); a container-level sensitivity analysis was also performed to assess robustness to within-container clustering. A significant three-way interaction among resin cement, curing mode, and immersion medium was observed for fluid sorption ( p = 0.002). Mean sorption values were lower for dual-cured than for auto-cured specimens across all matching immersion conditions. Under auto-curing, mean sorption values in 20% ethanol and 0.01 M lactic acid were generally higher than the corresponding distilled-water values. Dual-cured PANAVIA SA Luting Multi immersed in distilled water yielded the lowest numerical sorption value (26.27 ± 0.97 µg/mm³). The three-way interaction remained significant in the container-level sensitivity analysis ( p = 0.012). Dual-curing was associated with lower mean fluid sorption overall in the tested silane-containing self-adhesive resin cements, although the magnitude of the difference depended on cement formulation and immersion medium. Ethanol and lactic acid generally increased fluid uptake, particularly under auto-curing. Distilled-water sorption values were below the ISO 4049 water-sorption threshold; however, because water solubility was not evaluated, overall ISO 4049 compliance cannot be claimed from sorption data alone. Ethanol- and lactic-acid sorption values should be interpreted as modified solvent/acid challenge outcomes rather than direct ISO-compliance data.