Dentin and enamel bond strengths of dual-cure composite luting agents used with dual-cure dental adhesives § Andre ´ V. Ritter a, *, Eduardo Ghaname b , Luiz A.F. Pimenta c a Department of Operative Dentistry, UNC Chapel Hill, School of Dentistry, 441 Brauer Hall, CB#7450, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7450, United States b Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences, and Endodontics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States c Department of Dental Ecology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States journal of dentistry 37 (2009) 59–64 article info Article history: Received 28 July 2008 Received in revised form 4 September 2008 Accepted 8 September 2008 Keywords: Dual-cure Luting agents Shear bond strengths abstract Objective: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate and compare dentin and enamel bond strengths obtained with dual-cure composite luting agents when used with dual-cure dental adhesives. Methods: Human molars were ground flat to expose enamel (n = 80) or dentin (n = 80). Specimens in each substrate group were randomly assigned to eight treatment sub-groups, according to four adhesive-luting agent combinations and two test conditions (with or without thermocycling). Pre-polymerized composite resin posts (TPH Spectrum) were luted to either the enamel or dentin surfaces with one of the following adhesive-luting agent combinations: (1) Xeno IV Dual Cure (dual-cure self-etch adhesive) and Calibra (dual-cure luting agent); (2) Prime & Bond NT Dual Cure (dual-cure total-etch adhesive) and Calibra; (3) OptiBond All-in-One Dual Cure (dual-cure self-etch adhesive) and Nexus 2 Dual Syringe (dual-cure luting agent); (4) OptiBond Solo Plus Dual Cure (dual-cure total-etch adhesive) and Nexus 2 Dual Syringe. For each treatment sub-group, half the specimens (n = 10) were tested after 24 h storage in water at 37 8C, and the other half (n = 10) were tested after thermo- cycling for 1800 cycles between water baths held at 5 and 55 8C, with a dwell time in each bath of 30 s, and a transfer time of 10 s. Bond strengths were measured in shear mode, and expressed in MPa. The fracture mode (adhesive, cohesive, mixed) was examined. Data were analyzed for statistical significance with a factorial ANOVA and post hoc tests. Results: Mean enamel bond strengths ranged from 8.4 MPa for non-thermocycled OptiBond All-in-OnejNexus 2 to 35.5 MPa for non-thermocycled Prime & Bond NTjCalibra. Mean dentin bond strengths ranged from 14.5 MPa for non-thermocycled OptiBond Solo PlusjNexus 2 to 30.9 MPa for thermocycled Xeno IVjCalibra. The fracture mode was pre- dominantly adhesive for all groups. Conclusions: On enamel, the total-etch adhesives performed better than their self-etch counterparts, while in dentin, the opposite was found, i.e., the self-etch adhesives per- formed better than their total-etch counterparts. Thermocycling for 1800 cycles did not affect the SBS of the materials tested to dentin and enamel. # 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This study was funded by Dentsply/Caulk, Milford, DE, USA. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 919 843 6356; fax: +1 919 966 5660. E-mail address: rittera@dentistry.unc.edu (A.V. Ritter). available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/jden 0300-5712/$ – see front matter # 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2008.09.006