A laboratory comparison of the adhesion of unfilled and composite resins to acid etched enamel

Abstract

The purpose of this laboratory study was to determine if the bond strengths of composite resins and unfilled resins was affected similarly when applied to enamel surfaces which had been previously etched with 50 per cent phosphoric acid. The test specimens were subjected to 24 hours, 30 days, and 6 months storage in water and then subjected to temperature stress cycling and intermittent tensile stress cycling. A tensile test was used to measure the bond strengths of the composite resins (Adaptic and HL-72) and the unfilled resin (Sevriton). The following results were obtained: (1) Pretreating the enamel surface with 50 per cent phosphoric acid for 60 seconds significantly increased the bond strength of composite resins; (2) when placed on acid etched enamel, there was no significant difference in initial bond strengths obtained for the Adaptic and unfilled Sevriton resins; (3) with prolonged water storage, the Adaptic composite resins developed significant loss of bond strength when compared to the unfilled Sevriton resins and the composite HL-72 resins; (4) when Adaptic resins and the HL-72 resin specimens were compared, there was no significant difference in initial bond strengths but the HL-72 specimens were less affected by storage time. Ca45 was used to assess the marginal seal of Adaptic, HL-72, and Sevriton in acid etched and non-etched Class V restorations. One-half of the specimens were thermal cycled 2500 times and stored in water for one week. Control specimens were tested at the end of one week without the thermal cycle. On the basis of these results, it was concluded that acid etching enhances the marginal seal of both composite and unfilled resins. Both composite and unfilled resins experienced increased marginal leakage when the acid etch preparations were thermal cycled, but there were no observable difference in the marginal seal of unfilled resins and composite resins when placed in acid etched restorations.