Bond strength of self-adhesive resin cements to different treated indirect composites

The objective of this study was to determine microtensile bond strength (mu TBS) to dentin of three self-adhesive and a total-etch resin cements used for luting different treated indirect composites. Composite overlays (Filtek Z250) were prepared. Their intaglio surfaces were ground with 600-grit SiC papers and randomly assigned to three different surface treatments: no treatment, silane application (RelyX Ceramic Primer), and silane agent followed by a bonding agent (Adper Scotchbond 1 XT). The composite overlays were luted to flat dentin surfaces of extracted human third molars using the following self-adhesive resin cements: RelyX Unicem, Maxcem Elite and G-Cem, and a total-etch resin cement, RelyX ARC. The bonded assemblies were stored in water (24 h, 37 A degrees C) and subsequently prepared for mu TBS testing. Beams of approximately 1 mm(2) were tested in tension at 1 mm/min in a universal tester (Instron 3345). Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keuls tests (alpha = 0.05). A significant influence of the resin cement used was detected. Composite surface treatment and the interaction between the resin cement applied and surface treatment did not affect mu TBS. Surface treatment of indirect resin composite did not improve the mu TBS results of dentin/composite overlay complex. Self-adhesive resin cements tested obtained lower mu TBS than the total-etch resin cement RelyX ARC. Specimens luted with Maxcem Elite exhibited the highest percentage of pretesting failures. Surface treatment of indirect resin composite with silane or silane followed by a bonding agent did not affect bond strength to dentin.