Relationship between air-blowing duration and bond strengths of three adhesive systems to dentin after thermal aging

The purpose was to evaluate the effect of air-blowing duration of three different adhesive systems on immediate or thermal aged resin-dentin shear bond strength (SBS). Human dentin surfaces were bonded with: one-step (Bond Force, BF), two-step (FL-Bond II, FLB) and three-step (Scotch Bond Multi-Purpose, SBMP) adhesive systems. Bonded surfaces from each group were air-blown for 0, 5, or 10 s and cured. Composite cylinders were built on the treated surfaces and cured. Half of the specimens from each group were tested immediately and the other halves were tested after thermal aging. Statistical analysis showed signifcant decrease in SBS after thermal aging compared to immediate testing in all groups, except BF after 5 s air-blowing or FLB and SBMP with no air-blowing (p>0.05). The results suggested that 5 s air-blowing is necessary to obtain a stable SBS for BF. However, extended airblowing duration of FLB and SBMP decreased the SBS significantly after thermal aging.