Abstract
Almost half of dental restorations have failed in less than 10 years, and approximately 60% of practice time has been consumed to replace these dental restorations. As such, contemporary dentin adhesives should be modified to treat secondary caries and prevent the degradation of adhesive-dentin interfaces. To achieve this goal, we developed a versatile therapeutic adhesive in the present study by incorporating quercetin, which is a naturally derived plant extract, into a commercial adhesive at three concentrations (100, 500 and 1000 µg/mL). An unmodified adhesive served as a control. The antibacterial ability on Streptococcus mutans biofilm, conversion degree, microtensile bond strength, failure modes, in situ zymography, nanoleakage expression and cytotoxicity of quercetin-doped adhesive were comprehensively evaluated. Results showed that the quercetin-doped adhesive (500 µg/mL) preserved its bonding properties against collagenase ageing and inhibited the growth of S. mutans biofilm. Efficient bonding interface sealing ability, matrix metalloproteinase inhibition and acceptable biocompatibility were also achieved. Thus, a simple, safe and workable strategy was successfully developed to produce therapeutic adhesives for the extension of the service life of adhesive restorations.