[The influence of the difference of caries detective methods on the bond strength for caries affected root canal...

Firm adhesion of composite resin and dentin is the basic premise for building up resin composite cores successfully. To assess the efficacy of several caries detective methods (stained with Caries Detector and probing with sharp probe) for caries affected root canal dentin, microtensile bond strengths of resin composite to caries-affected root canal dentin and failure mode distribution were analyzed in this study. Color and hardness were used for assessment of root caries as follows: Dye stain group (pale pink stained with Caries Detector), Probing group (probing with sharp probe) and Sound dentin group (Control). The bond strengths (mean +/- standard deviation) of the Probing group (64.6 +/- 11.9 MPa) and the Sound dentin group (68.7 +/- 11.1 MPa) were significantly higher than those of the Dye stain group (46.9 +/- 7.9 MPa, p<0.05). However, there is no significant difference in fracture mode between the Dye stain group and the Probing group (p<0.05). This could be attributed to that the thick smear layer caused a loss of hybrid layer strength. In conclusion, the caries removal technique of the root canal dentin affected the bond strength of the resin composite.