Self-etching Adhesives Improve the Shear Bond Strength of a Resin-modified Glass-ionomer Cement to Dentin

Despite the improvements of resin-modified glass-ionomer cements, the dentin bond strength of these materials remains inferior to that provided by "bonding system/composite" combinations and limits the clinical use of RMGIC. The objective of this in vitro study was to investigate the effect of new self-etching bonding systems on the adhesion to dentin of Fuji II LC. Seven recent self-etching systems were studied (Clearfil SE Bond = CSE, Optibond Solo Plus Self-Etching Primer = OSP, One Up Bond F = OUP, Mac Bond II = MB2, Xeno III = XB3, ADPER Prompt-L-Pop = ADP, Unifil Bond = UB) and compared with Cavity Conditioner (C). After the bonding procedure, a resin-modified glass-ionomer cylinder (Fuji II LC) was bonded to the surface using a Teflon mold (diameter: 3 mm; height: 5 mm). The different specimens were tested in a shear bond mode (0.5 mm/min). Statistical analyses were performed with one-way ANOVA and Fischer PLSD test (p 0.05). The one-way ANOVA revealed a significant influence of the surface treatment parameter (p 0.0001). The lowest shear bond strength values were obtained with Cavity Conditioner. The highest values were obtained with MB2. The multiple comparisons revealed that ADP = OBP = XB3 = OUB = UB = CSE and that UB = CSE = MB2. The application of the 7 self-etching adhesives tested in this study improves the dentin shear bond strengths of Fuji II LC. This increase depended on the adhesive system and ranged from 50% for ADP up to 130% for MB2. Keywords: resin-modified glass-ionomer cements, self-etching adhesives, shear bond strength