Statement of problem: The long-term success of indirect restorations depends on the clinical behavior of luting cements. In the oral environment, properties such as water sorption and solubility negatively affect the cements’ clinical performance over time, jeopardizing the restoration’s longevity.

Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the water sorption and solubility characteristics of self-etching, self-adhesive, and conventional resin cements.

Material and methods: One conventional (Calibra), 1 self-etching (Panavia F), and 2 self-adhesive (Clearfil SA, G-Cem Automix) dual-polymerized resin cements were used. Fourteen disks of each material were prepared. Water sorption and solubility were calculated according to International Organization for Standards (ISO) specification 4049:2009.

Results: According to the water sorption test, all materials were found to interact with water. No statistically significant differences were found between the water sorption of Panavia F and Clearfil SA (P=.911). These cements exhibited higher water sorption values than the other materials (P<.05), whereas Calibra exhibited the lowest values (P<.05). Statistically significant differences were found among all materials regarding their water solubility (P<.05). Panavia F and Clearfil SA were found to have higher solubility values than the other materials. G-Cem Automix and Calibra exhibited negative solubility. However, all water sorption and solubility values were below the threshold values proposed by the ISO standard.

Conclusions: Within the limitations of the present in vitro study, the interaction of resin cements with water is not type-related (conventional, self-etching, or self-adhesive).