Bonding amalgam to dentin by different methods

The shear bond strengths of amalgam to dentin by use of (1) All-Bond-2 adhesive, (2) Amalgambond Plus adhesive and (3) TMS Minim pins were compared in this study. Forty-five sound human molars were mounted in acrylic resin and randomly assigned to one of the three groups. The occlusal surfaces were ground to expose the dentin, which was then wet-polished with 600-grit sand paper. All materials were applied according to manufacturer's instructions. A split die with a 5 mm opening was placed and amalgam was condensed, which created an amalgam cylinder bonded/retained to the dentin surface. A shear bond force was applied to the base of the amalgam cylinder. The data were analyzed with analysis of variance and Scheffé's test at the 95% level. All systems were found to promote adhesion/retention of amalgam to dentin. The All-Bond 2 group showed significantly higher bond strength (11.106 +/- 3.585 MPa) than Amalgambond Plus (6.343 +/- 3.564 MPa) and TMS pin (6.868 +/- 0.794 MPa) (p < 0.05).