Effect of halloysite aluminosilicate clay nanotube incorporation into bonding agents on shear bond strength to human dentin

Abstract

In adhesive dentistry, obtaining a good bond is a fundamental goal. It has been suggested that filler addition to the adhesives would increase the bonding strength of the adhesive layer. Halloysite aluminosilicate nanotubes (HNTs) are biocompatible, hydrophilic, durable, and have high mechanical strength. These advantages make them good candidates to be used as reinforcing agents for improving the properties of dental adhesives. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of incorporating HNTs into a commercial two-step etch-and-rinse adhesive system or one-step self-etch adhesive system on dentin shear bond strength. HNTs were incorporated into the two commercial adhesive systems in 0 wt%, 5 wt%, 10 wt%, and 20 wt%. The commercial control adhesives and the experimental adhesives were used to bond occlusal dentin of 120 extracted human molar teeth and then tested for shear bond strength by a universal testing machine with a semi-circular edge at a crosshead speed of 1.0 mm/min. Debonded specimens were examined under light microscopy to evaluate the fracture pattern. Resin-dentin interface were evaluated under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after bonding dentin slabs using commercial control adhesives and experimental adhesive that showed numerically highest shear bond strength from each adhesive system. Two-way ANOVA was used to evaluate the effects of adhesive system and nanofiller content on shear bond strength. Pair-wise comparisons between groups were made using Fisher's (LSD) (p < 0.05). For the self-etch adhesive system, only incorporation of 5 wt% showed a significant increase in shear bond strength to dentin compared with the commercial control group. For the etch-and-rinse adhesive system, there was no significant difference in shear bond strength between HNTs filled adhesives groups and the commercial control group. Resin-dentin interface SEM evaluation showed nanotubes infiltrated into dentinal tubules. In conclusion, incorporating the self-etch adhesive system with 5 wt% HNTs increased the bond strength to dentin. Incorporation of up to 10 wt% filler concentration into both the self-etch and the etch-and-rinse adhesive systems did not adversely affect the bond strength to dentin or the handling properties. HNTs can penetrate along with resin tags into dentinal tubules, which could expand the use of their unique properties.