Fatigue testing of enamel bonds with self-etch and total-etch adhesive systems

Etching of enamel by self-etching adhesive systems is not as pronounced as with phosphoric acid employed with most total-etch adhesive systems. This may result in differences in the effectiveness of the bonds for the two types of systems. The aim of this study was to compare two such systems by bond strength and fatigue testing.

Shear bond strengths for Single Bond (SB) and Adper Prompt-L-Pop (PLP) were obtained on bovine enamel surfaces. Fatigue measurements were made with the same test fixtures using cyclical loading at 2 Hz for a maximum of 10(5) cycles or until the bond failed. Four selected loads between 40 and 70% of the shear bond strength were tested for each adhesive and the number of cycles to failure was recorded. S-N curves were constructed from the data and fatigue stress limits were determined. The Mann-Whitney U-test and t-tests were used for statistical comparisons of the results. SEM analysis of resin tag formation into enamel surfaces was carried out.

A significantly greater bond strength was found for SB (25.3 MPa) than for PLP (19.2). Sustainable stresses after 10(5) load cycles were substantially lower than the corresponding shear bond strengths and fatigue limits were found to be 8.4 MPa for PLP and 14.6 MPa for SB. The ratio of fatigue limit to bond strength was less for PLP (44%) than for SB (57%). Resin tag penetration into enamel was substantially less for PLP than for SB.

Fatigue testing in conjunction with bond strength testing can provide a better means for assessing the performance of adhesive systems used for bonding to enamel.