Step 6. Conditioning the cavity
and adjacent pits and fissures
The use of hand instruments on the dentine
surface results in a smear layer. In order
to improve the chemical and mechanical
bonding of the GIC to the tooth tissues
this smear layer must be removed by the
use of a dentine conditioner. When using
encapsulated GIC it will be necessary to
use a separate dentine conditioner specially
developed for this purpose. This
differs from the liquid used for acidetching
for composites since a dentine
conditioner usually contains a solution
of between 10-40% polyacrylic, tartaric
and/or maleic acid. Because of the difference
in dentine conditioners available, it
is important to carefully follow the manufacturer’s
instructions. If a hand-mixed powder-liquid GIC is used the liquid component
of the GIC can be used as the conditioner.
The concentration is often too
high and needs to be reduced. This can be
achieved easily by dipping a cotton wool
pellet in water, removing excess on a paper
towel and then dipping this moist cotton
wool pellet in a drop of the liquid component
of the hand-mixed GIC