diff --git a/src/material/button/button.ts b/src/material/button/button.ts
index 37a82770e732..9dbed00542fb 100644
--- a/src/material/button/button.ts
+++ b/src/material/button/button.ts
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ export class MatButton extends _MatButtonMixinBase
               @Optional() @Inject(ANIMATION_MODULE_TYPE) public _animationMode: string) {
     super(elementRef);
 
-    // For each of the variant selectors that is prevent in the button's host
+    // For each of the variant selectors that is present in the button's host
     // attributes, add the correct corresponding class.
     for (const attr of BUTTON_HOST_ATTRIBUTES) {
       if (this._hasHostAttributes(attr)) {
@@ -102,6 +102,11 @@ export class MatButton extends _MatButtonMixinBase
       }
     }
 
+    // Add a class that applies to all buttons. This makes it easier to target if somebody
+    // wants to target all Material buttons. We do it here rather than `host` to ensure that
+    // the class is applied to derived classes.
+    elementRef.nativeElement.classList.add('mat-button-base');
+
     this._focusMonitor.monitor(this._elementRef, true);
 
     if (this.isRoundButton) {
diff --git a/src/material/dialog/dialog.scss b/src/material/dialog/dialog.scss
index 18c3f1c353eb..b09d10254f68 100644
--- a/src/material/dialog/dialog.scss
+++ b/src/material/dialog/dialog.scss
@@ -61,10 +61,7 @@ $mat-dialog-button-margin: 8px !default;
     justify-content: center;
   }
 
-  .mat-button + .mat-button,
-  .mat-raised-button + .mat-raised-button,
-  .mat-button + .mat-raised-button,
-  .mat-raised-button + .mat-button {
+  .mat-button-base + .mat-button-base {
     margin-left: $mat-dialog-button-margin;
 
     [dir='rtl'] & {