A comparison of shear bond strength of immediate and delayed bonding of brackets to FRC bars using various orthodontic adhesives.

BACKGROUND Fibre reinforced composite bars (FRC) have applications as bonded retainers, space maintainers and anchorage/movement units. However, the bond strength of attachments to FRC anchorage bars is unknown. AIMS To compare the shear bond strengths of brackets bonded immediately to FRCs with different orthodontic adhesive systems and bonded with the same adhesives after a 48-hour delay, abraded with a diamond bur and etched with phosphoric acid. METHOD One hundred and five recently extracted upper premolars were randomly assigned to seven groups (N = 15 teeth per group). FRCs were bonded to the buccal surfaces of the teeth and stainless steel orthodontic brackets were bonded to the FRCs with the following adhesive systems: Group 0 (Tetric Flow); Groups 1, 2 and 3 (Immediate bonding with chemically cured, no-mix and light cured composites, respectively, the bars covered with Tetric Flow); Groups 4, 5 and 6 (Bonding to FRCs delayed 48 hours, then bonded with chemically cured, no-mix and light cured composites, respectively, the bars covered with Tetric Flow). The FRC bars in Groups 4, 5 and 6 were abraded with a coarse-grit diamond bur before bonding the attachments to the bars. The shear bond strengths (SBS) were measured with a universal testing machine, and the adhesive remaining on the teeth after debonding was scored with the Adhesive Remnant Index (ARI). Data were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Duncan's post-hoc and Fisher's Exact test. RESULTS There were no statistically significant SBS differences between Groups 0 (Mean SBS: 9.56 MPa), 1 (Mean SBS: 9.74 MPa), 2 (Mean SBS: 10.72 MPa) or 3 (Mean SBS: 9.54 MPa). Groups 4, 5 and 6 (Bonding delayed by 48 hours) had SBSs of 11.79 MPa, 11.63 MPa and 13.11 MPa, respectively, and were significantly higher than the SBSs in Groups 1, 2 and 3 (Immediate bonding). There were no significant differences in ARI scores among the groups. CONCLUSIONS The mean SBSs in all groups fell within the clinically acceptable range (> 7 MPa). The combination of a 48-hour delay between placement of an FRC bar and bonding an attachment, abrading the FRC with a diamond bur and etching with phosphoric acid resulted in higher bond strengths.