Effect of loading on the microtensile bond strength and microleakage of a self-etching and etch-and-rinse adhesive in direct Class II MOD composite restorations in vitro.

The effect of loading on microleakage and microtensile bond strength of MOD composite restorations bonded with either self-etching or etch-and-rinse adhesive was investigated. MOD cavities were prepared in 28 extracted molar teeth. 14 teeth were bonded with a one-step self-etching adhesive (G-Bond) and 14 with an etch-and-rinse adhesive (Optibond Solo Plus) then restored with resin composite. For each adhesive, 7 teeth were loaded and 7 unloaded (controls). Loading was achieved with an axial force of 80 N at 2.5 cycles/s for 250,000 cycles. All the teeth were stored in 0.25% rhodamine solution for 24 h and sectioned in a bucco-lingual direction at the proximal boxes to examine microleakage then further sliced mesiodistally into beams for the μTBS test. Failure modes were determined using confocal and scanning electron microscopy. ANOVA assessed the effect of loading on microleakage and bond strength. After loading, restorations bonded with G-Bond exhibited significantly greater dye penetration compared to Optibond Solo Plus at both the axial walls and cavity floor. On the other hand, loading significantly reduced the μTBS of Optibond Solo Plus, whereas it had no significant effect on the μTBS of G-Bond.