COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE SHEAR BOND STRENGTH OF THREE SELF-ETCH DENTIN BONDING AGENTS TO DENTIN: AN IN-VITRO STUDY

Background:Dentin bonding is an ever-evolving field in adhesive dentistry. With the introduction of newer systems into the market, there is a crucial need to test their efficiency in terms of bond strength. Dual-cured adhesives in theory may provide for a better degree of conversion as compared to conventional light-cured adhesives .Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the shear bond strength of three different self-etch adhesives namely ClearfilSE bond (Kuraray), Tetric N Bond Universal (IvoclarVivadent) and Futura Bond DC (Voco) to dentin. Materials & Methods: Ninety extracted non-carious, intact human mandibular molar teeth were selected for this study. Each tooth was decoronated using a double-sided diamond disc with water coolant to a depth of 2mm from the cusp tip .The cut dentin surface was then abraded against 600-grit wet silicon carbide papers for 60 seconds to produce a uniform smear layer. The root portion of each tooth was mounted on a plastic ring using cold cure acrylic resin. Specimens were then divided into three adhesive groups of 30 teeth each, Group A: ClearfilSE Bond (Kuraray), Group B: Tetric N Bond Universal (IvoclarVivadent), Group C :Futura Bond DC (Voco). All bonding agents were used according to the manufacturers' instructions, in combination with the resin composite Tetric N Ceram (IvoclarVivadent). The samples were thermocycled, followed by shear bond strength testing using a Universal testing machine (Hounsfield). Data were subjected to statistical analysis using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) (P<0.05) and Post hoc Tukey's test for inter- and intra- group analysis respectively. Results: Clearfil SE Bond yielded the highest shear bond strength values (30.9 ±4.66 MPa) which were statistically significant, followed byTetric N Bond Universal group (29.8 ±4.34) and the lowest shear bond strength values were recorded for Futura Bond DC (18.2 ±3.13). Conclusion: Clearfil SE bond and Tetric N bond Universal can be considered as better options than Futura Bond DC.