Microtensile bond strength of current adhesive systems when compared to cohesive strength of sound dentin and a resin-based composite

Purpose: To evaluate the microtensile bond strength (µTBS) to dentin of 4 adhesive systems, the micromorphology of the adhesive/dentin interface and to compare the results to the µTS (cohesive strength) of sound dentin and resin composite. Occlusal surfaces of 24 extracted caries-free human molars were cut flat to expose the dentin surface. They were randomly assigned to 4 groups (n = 6): Adper Scotchbond Multi Purpose Plus (MP), Adper Single Bond (SB), Clearfil Protect Bond (CP) and Adper Prompt (AP). Adhesive systems were applied and "crowns" were built using Z100. Other 5 human molars were sectioned to obtain square-shaped dentin blocks and 5 resin blocks were built using a composite resin, Z100. After storage in distilled water at 37 °C for 24 h, stick-shaped specimens were obtained for all groups (n = 5) with 0.8 mm² and subjected to µTBS or µTS test. Results were analyzed using One-Way ANOVA and Tukey's test at p < 0.05. The remaining bonded teeth were cut in two halves perpendicularly to the bonded interface and prepared for SEM analyses. No significant differences were found among CP (45.6 + 7.4 MPa), SB (43.3 + 6.5 MPa) and MP (35.1 + 5.9 MPa) (p > 0.05). The lowest result was found for AP (27.4 + 4.7 MPa), although not statistically different from MP. Most specimens (89.4%) showed predominant adhesive failure. None of the systems tested reached the µTS values of dentin (108.5 + 9.4 MPa) and Z100 (86.5 + 3.6 MPa). Bonded interfaces showed lower µTBS than those µTS of dentin and resin composite blocks. The all-in-one self-etching adhesive had the lowest µTBS.