Comment on ′standards on restoratives′

Sir,I am writing this letter after going through dozens of research articles written and published on the issue of distilled water conditioning and artificial saliva conditioning of dental restoratives containing polymers (at least as a binder). Many important mechanical properties are evaluated after the so called conditioning, like wear, fracture toughness, tensile strength, compressive strength, stiffness and physico-chemical properties to disqualify restoratives, which do not conform to prescriptions and expectations.In my opinion, some of the investigators neither understand the importance of distilled water conditioning and artificial saliva conditioning nor are they knowledgeable about the implications and correctness of the property evaluations which follow. Polymers take several days to reach a steady state of equilibrium in water or saliva absorption. Any measurement of the qualifying mechanical properties will only be transient if these restoratives are conditioned for a pre-determined duration of just 24 hours or 72 hours and evaluated.