A one-part, self-etching dental adhesive having improved performance such as adhesion performance with a simple one-coat application, without the need of separate acid-etching, a priming pre-treatment, or bonding step. The invention provides such improvements due to a function of the pH balance of the system in combination with an acid stable photoinitiating system. More specifically, the performance and pH balance is achieved through the employment of a hydrolytically stable, acidic, high-strength adhesive monomer (such as PENTA), with a stable, bifunctional, hydrophilic monomer (such as AHPMA) that yields greater crosslinking.
