Bond strength of adhesives to dentin involving total and self-etch adhesives.

OBJECTIVE: Currently, the trend in dentin adhesion seems to be shifting from moist bonding systems to self-etching systems and from several application steps to single steps. However, recent studies have indicated that the performance of single-step adhesives was lower than the 2-step self-etch or total etch systems. In the present study, microtensile bond strength of a total etch, 2-step self-etch and single-step self-etch adhesives was comparatively evaluated. METHOD AND MATERIALS: The superficial occlusal dentin of 12 noncarious extracted human molars was exposed, finished with wet 600-grit silicon carbide paper, and a block of resin composite bonded with adhesives according to the manufacturers' instructions. The teeth were kept in tap water for 24 hours at 37 degrees C and sectioned to produce beams, with adhesive areas of +/- 0.9 mm2 (4 beams per tooth were obtained). The specimens were stressed at a crosshead speed of 1 mm per minute until the bonds ruptured. RESULTS: The mean bond strengths were calculated as MPa and compared by performing analysis of variance and Tukey tests to identify significant differences between the materials (P = 0.05). The mean bond strength of Clearfil SE Bond was significantly higher than that of OptiBond Solo Plus and iBond (P <.05). OptiBond Solo Plus gave significantly higher bond strengths than iBond (P <.05). CONCLUSIONS: The self-etching adhesive system Clearfil SE Bond (2 step) had higher bond strength than the 1-bottle self-etching adhesive iBond (single application) and the 2-step single-bottle system OptiBond Solo Plus (total etch). However, the 1-bottle adhesive system OptiBond Solo Plus (total etch system) had higher bond strength than the 1-bottle self-etching adhesive system iBond.