e4 dental materials 26S (2010) e1–e84 Supported by FAPESP, Brazil #07/54618-4 and CNPq, Brazil #300615/2007-8. doi:10.1016/j.dental.2010.08.014 7 The application of superficial treatments to improve bond strength to fiber posts G. Casella University of Catania, Italy Objectives: The objective of the study was to understand which, among the surface treatments recently proposed by lit- erature, is more useful in order to increase the adhesion of the post-cement system. It was also evaluated if the same treat- ments caused the same effects on all types of tested posts. Materials and methods: The study analyzed the surface micro-morphology and roughness of 6 different fiber posts. 4 samples of each group were immersed for 10 min in: (1) 10% hydrogen peroxide; (2) 20% hydrogen peroxide; (3) 10% potas- sium permanganate; (4) 10% sodium ethoxyde. 4 posts of each type were treated for 1 min with 36% ortophosphoric acid. A confocal microscope was used to evaluate the surface mor- phology of the samples. The statistical analysis on the degree of roughness measured on the post-surface was performed by means of two-way ANOVA test; the level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: All the posts showed signs of surface changes after the contact for 10 min with the four solutions and after 1 min of treatment with 36%. ortophosphoric acid. The statistical analysis underlined that hydrogen peroxide was more effec- tive on glass-fibre and carbon-fibre posts, while the treatment with 36% orthophosphoric acid increased the surface rough- ness of the glass-fibre reinforced composite posts (see Table). 10% hydrogen peroxide 20% hydrogen peroxide 10% potassium pergamangate 10% sodium etoxide 36% ortophosphoric acid Control group Mean ± S.D. Mean ± S.D. Mean ± S.D. Mean ± S.D. Mean ± S.D. Mean ± S.D. 1 76.96 ± 3.44 73.59 ± 3.55 25.39 ± 1.29 34.38 ± 1.35 22.99 ± 1.28 15.23 ± 1.42 2 74.01 ± 5.30 65.61 ± 2.51 83.06 ± 1.74 83.96 ± 2.45 122.31 ± 1.76 34.23 ± 1.07 3 137.09 ± 2.68 119.12 ± 1.02 19.39 ± 1.38 14.70 ± 1.94 22.16 ± 1.17 18.33 ± 1.40 4 70.06 ± 6.40 39.29 ± 31.30 31.30 ± 1.29 15.36 ± 1.25 34.15 ± 1.39 22.24 ± 1.27 5 100.71 ± 4.50 113.05 ± 1.07 14.35 ± 1.43 20.15 ± 0.89 75.21 ± 1.33 13.18 ± 0.96 6 109.45 ± 2.49 90.18 ± 1.08 15.35 ± 1.24 25.38 ± 1.41 47.18 ± 1.07 17.33 ± 1.37 1 = Tech 2000 Xop; 2 = FRC Postec Plus; 3 = RelyX Fiber Post; 4 = DT Light-Post; 5 = Millenium Plus Conical Black; 6 = Glassix Glass Fiber Post. Conclusions: When effective, the tested pre-treatments create new sites of mechanical retention and improve the post-cement composite interface, stabilizing the quality of the adhesive bond over time. doi:10.1016/j.dental.2010.08.015 8 Evaluation of the enamel etching pattern of self-etching adhesives G. Castelli 1 , L. Gallottini 2 , G. Sotgiu 1 , A. Lumbau 1 , G. Gallina 3 , E. Milia 1 1 University of Sassari, Italy 2 University of Roma, Italy 3 University of Palermo, Italy Objectives: To evaluate the capacity of seven self-etching adhesives (SEAs) to demineralize ground enamel in compari- son with traditional phosphoric acid etchant (PAE) using SEM and statistical analysis. Materials and methods: 80 caries-free extracted human third molars were divided into 8 groups (n = 10). Enamel bur-cut surfaces were prepared and, strictly following the manu- facturers’ instructions, treated with three priming agents of two-step self-etching adhesives: Aqua Resulcin Prime (Group 1); Peak TM (Group 2); Clearfil Protect Bond (Group 3); four one-step self-etch (all-in-one) adhesives, G-Bond (Group 4); Artegral One (Group 5); Clearfil S3 Bond (Group 6); Adper Easy Bond (Group 7); and phosphoric acid etching (Control group). The etch patterns for the SEA systems were determined by rinsing off the material with water, acetone and alcohol. A minimum of 15 specimens was used for each group. Morphol- ogy matches were made between each SEA system and PAE by means of ultrastructural SEM analysis and were computed using the Kruskal–Wallis test (P < 0.05). Results: SEM images showed that two-step-self-etching adhesives (Groups 1–3) produced a regular pattern over a con- siderable surface area and depth, not concerning, however, the prismless layer of enamel in the fissure space; one-step self-etch adhesives (Groups 4–7) demonstrated similar mor- phological features; an uneven demineralization pattern was