Adhesion to mineralized tissue: Bonding to human dentin

We consider the conditions and demonstrable reactions which promote chemical bonding to human dentin. The desirability of developing durable adhesion to dentin is used as background for a discussion of feasible reactions to the dentin components, for possible use in new formulations. This is followed by a discussion of the demonstrable reactions found in the literature, as well as our own surface-sensitive IR work on the reaction between dentin protein and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, an ingredient found in proprietary tissue replacement formulations.