Shear bond strength of self-adhesive resins compared to resin cements with etch and rinse adhesives to enamel and dentin in vitro

Self-adhesive resin cements should ease the placement of dental restorations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate their shear bond strength to enamel and dentin. Sixty molars were randomly assigned to 12 test groups (each n = 10), and the approximal surfaces were ground flat to get an enamel and dentin surface with a diameter of at least 4 mm. Ceramic specimens were bonded to the surfaces with either Variolink/Syntac Classic (VSC), Panavia F2.0 (PAF), RelyX Unicem (RLX), Maxcem Elite (MCE), iCem (IC), or an experimental self-adhesive resin cement (EXP). The shear bond strength (crosshead speed: 1 mm/min) was measured after 24-h storage in NaCl (37A degrees C). The fracture modes were determined with a stereomicroscope (magnification, 8-50-fold). VSC had the highest shear bond strength within the enamel groups (42.9 A +/- 9 MPa) and IC the lowest (10.5 A +/- 4.2 MPa, p < 0.001). The highest dentin shear bond strength was determined for VSC (39.2 A +/- 8.9 MPa, p < 0.001) and the lowest for EXP (7.8 A +/- 3.9 MPa, p < 0.001). Self-adhesive resin cements fractured mainly between resin and enamel or dentin. The shear bond strength of self-adhesive resin cements was inferior compared to conventional composite resin cements.