Comparative Evaluation of shear Bond Strength of universal Dental Adhesives -An in vitro study.

BACKGROUND: Patient demand for tooth colored restorations and desire for minimally invasive restorations have made composites an indispensable part of the restorative process. An important factor affecting the intra-oral performance of composite restorations is bonding.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ninty six freshly extracted molar teeth were collected and occlusal 3mm is removed using a diamond disc to expose dentine. Following with samples were divided in to two main groups (self-etch & total etch). Each main group is again sub divided in to three groups each according to bonding agent used (Tetric N- Bond Universal, Single Bond Universal, Tetric N Bond Total etch in total etch group and Clear Fill SE in self etch group). Following which bonding protocol is followed according to manufacture instructions, a composite buildup of 2x3 mm is done on each specimen and then specimen were subjected to shear bond test under universal testing machine. All the readings were noted and subjected to statistical analysis using One way ANOVA and Tukey's posthoc test.

RESULTS: It showed that there is no significant difference among the groups in both self-etch and total etch modes.

CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that application of an etching step prior to Universal Adhesives significantly improves their dentine penetration pattern, although this does not affect their mean SBS. The bond strength values of the TBU regardless of application mode were comparable to SBU making them reliable for working under different clinical conditions. Key words:Dentine bonding agents, self-etch mode, total etch mode, shear bond strength.