Dentin and enamel bond strengths of dual-cure composite luting agents used with dual-cure dental adhesives.

Objective: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate and compare dentin and enamel bond strengths obtained with dual-cure composite luting agents when used with dual-cure dental adhesives.
Methods: Human molars were ground flat to expose enamel (n=80) or dentin (n=80). Specimens in each substrate group were randomly assigned to eight treatment sub-groups, according to four adhesive-luting agent combinations and two test conditions (with or without thermocycling). Pre-polymerized composite resin posts (TPH Spectrum) were luted to either the enamel or dentin surfaces with one of the following adhesive-luting agent combinations: (1) Xeno IV Dual Cure (dual-cure self-etch adhesive) and Calibra (dual-cure luting agent); (2) Prime & Bond NT Dual Cure (dual-cure total-etch adhesive) and Calibra; (3) OptiBond All-in-One Dual Cure (dual-cure self-etch adhesive) and Nexus 2 Dual Syringe (dual-cure luting agent); (4) OptiBond Solo Plus Dual Cure (dual-cure total-etch adhesive) and Nexus 2 Dual Syringe. For each treatment sub-group, half the specimens (n=10) were tested after 24h storage in water at 37 degrees C, and the other half (n=10) were tested after thermocycling for 1800 cycles between water baths held at 5 and 55 degrees C, with a dwell time in each bath of 30s, and a transfer time of 10s. Bond strengths were measured in shear mode, and expressed in MPa. The fracture mode (adhesive, cohesive, mixed) was examined. Data were analyzed for statistical significance with a factorial ANOVA and post hoc tests.
Results: Mean enamel bond strengths ranged from 8.4MPa for non-thermocycled OptiBond All-in-One|Nexus 2 to 35.5MPa for non-thermocycled Prime & Bond NT|Calibra. Mean dentin bond strengths ranged from 14.5MPa for non-thermocycled OptiBond Solo Plus|Nexus 2 to 30.9MPa for thermocycled Xeno IV|Calibra. The fracture mode was predominantly adhesive for all groups.
Conclusions: On enamel, the total-etch adhesives performed better than their self-etch counterparts, while in dentin, the opposite was found, i.e., the self-etch adhesives performed better than their total-etch counterparts. Thermocycling for 1800 cycles did not affect the SBS of the materials tested to dentin and enamel.