effect of using electric current during dentin bonding agent application on microleakage under simulated pulpal pressure condition

background: the use of electric current during application of etch-and-rinse adhesive systems has been recently introduced to decrease microleakage. this study investigated the effects of an electric field produced by an experimental device for the application of a two-step etch-and-rinse adhesive on moist dentin surface. methods: sixty freshly extracted human premolars were used for this study. in order to simulate real conditions, the pulpal pressure was set to 35 cm h 2 o for all the specimens. the teeth were divided into two groups: in group i, etch-and-rinse system (single bond) was applied with electric current while group ii, etch-and-rinse system (single bond) was applied without electric current. specimens were prepared for dye penetration test. the data were analyzed using mann-whitney u test. results: the results showed that group i had less microleakage scores compared to group ii (p = 0.047). conclusion: based on the result of this study, it could be concluded that using electric current for applying adhesive systems had a significant effect on reducing microleakage.