Effect of postoperative peroxide bleaching on the stability of composite to enamel and dentin bonds

This study investigated the effect of peroxide bleaching gel on the durability of the adhesive bond between composite material, enamel, and dentin created with the etch-and-rinse adhesive Gluma Comfort Bond (GLU) and with the self-etch adhesives Clearfil SE Bond (CLE), Adper Prompt (ADP), and iBond (IBO). The adhesives were applied to flattened enamel and dentin of extracted human molars and built up with a microhybrid composite (Charisma). After 25 eight-hour cycles of bleaching with a 20% carbamide peroxide bleaching gel (Opalescence PF 20), the shear bond strength was measured and compared with one-day and two-month control specimens stored in water. The data were analyzed using nonparametric Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis statistics (p<0.05). Detailed fractographic analysis was performed using scanning electron microscopy. The bleaching gel significantly decreased the bond strength on both enamel and dentin for the simplified single-step self-etch adhesives ADP and IBO and markedly affected a fracture pattern of ADP specimens at the periphery of their bonded area. The results of our study indicate that the durability of adhesive restorations can be detrimentally influenced by carbamide peroxide bleaching and that different adhesives show varying sensitivity levels to the bleaching gel.