Evaluation of Shear Bond Strength of Different Dental Materials to Bovine Enamel Used as Trauma Splints

Objective: This research aimed to measure the shear bond strength (SBS) of different dental materials to bovine enamel, while using them as splints for two different time periods.Materials and Methods: Bovine incisor enamel sections were randomly divided into 10 groups based on test material and surface pretreatment. Each group was further split into 2 subgroups based on the length of the splinting period. Trauma splint materials (Gradia Direct Anterior Composite Resin, Gradia Core, Vertise Flow, Riva Light-Cure) were applied to enamel surfaces using one of two modes of a universal adhesive [etch-and-rinse (E&R) or self-etch (SE)] according to the manufacturers' instructions or with no pre-treatment [self-adhering (SA)]. At the end of splinting period, SBS of samples were evaluated with a universal testing machine, and data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA, post-hoc Tukey's, and paired t-tests.Results: SBS values for each of the trauma splint materials were significantly higher when used with an E&R protocol as compared to an SE or SA protocol. Moreover, SBS values for Vertise Flow and Riva Light Cure used with an SA protocol were significantly lower than those of all other groups tested (p<0.05).Conclusion: All the materials tested may be considered appropriate for use as a trauma splint except for Vertise Flow and Riva Light Cure when applied using an SA protocol.