Effect of rubbing force magnitude on bond strength of universal adhesives applied in self-etch mode

This study investigated the effect of rubbing force magnitude on dentin bond strengths of multi-mode adhesives applied in self-etch mode. Seventy-two extracted human molar teeth were used. Two different universal adhesives Single Bond Universal (SB) and Clearfil Universal (CL) were applied onto dentin surfaces in three different modes: without rubbing (NR), rubbing with 40 gf (gram-force) (40) or 80 gf (80) load. Teeth were restored with a resin composite. Half of the specimens were subject to thermal aging (10,000 cycles). Microtensile bond strength was measured and data were statistically analyzed with two-way analysis of variance and Tukey’s test (α=0.05). Baseline bond strength values for CL adhesive were improved by rubbing (40 and 80 gf) as compared to no rubbing (p<0.05). Rubbing did not significantly improve bond strength values for SB, regardless of aging (p>0.05). Rubbing improves bonding performance of some universal adhesives to dentin when applied in self-etch mode.