Long-term bond between dual-polymerizing cementing agents and human hard dental tissue.

OBJECTIVES To examine the long-term adhesion of seven dual-polymerizing cementing agents to human dentin in vitro. METHODS Two hundred and eighty extracted non-carious human molars were ground flat to expose dentin surfaces. The bond strengths of cementing agents with their respective bonding systems were examined: one compomer cement (PermaCem), five resin cements (RelyX ARC, Panavia F, Variolink II, Nexus 2, Calibra) and one self-adhesive universal resin cement (RelyX Unicem). One subgroup (n=10) was tested after 150 days of storage in water at 37 degrees C (time t(1)), the other subgroup (n=10) was tested after 150 days of storage plus 37,500 thermal cycles (time t(2)). All specimens were stressed in shear at a constant crosshead speed of 0.5mm/min until failure. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA, taking effect interactions into account. The Tukey method was used for multiple paired comparisons (alpha=0.05). RESULTS The three-way ANOVA (cementing agents, polymerization methods, times of measurements) showed Variolink II to have the highest strength at 9.9+/-4.5MPa. Values were slightly higher at t(1) (5.9+/-4.7MPa) than at t(2) (4.9+/-4.2MPa) (p=0.0044). Polymerization with light activation (6.5+/-5.1MPa) yielded higher strengths than polymerization without (4.3+/-3.3MPa) (p<0.0001). Separate two-way ANOVAs for t(1) and t(2) showed that the two main effects (cementing agent, polymerization method) and their interactions differed significantly. SIGNIFICANCE Cementing agents/adhesive systems and the polymerization method influence the long-term bond to hard dental tissues.