Vital Bleaching Influences the Bond Strength of Adhesive Systems to Enamel and Dentin: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of In Vitro Studies

Objective: This systematic review evaluates the influence of vital bleaching on the bond strength of adhesive systems to enamel and dentin. Methods: This review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA). In vitro studies comparing the bond strength of bleached and unbleached enamel and dentin were searched at the electronic databases-PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science-with no limit on year or language. The studies were screened and had data extracted by two reviewers independently. Bond strength data were meta-analyzed using the inverse variance method and the random effect model (p <= 0.05). Results: The electronic search provided 4941 eligible studies, and 52 were included in the systematic review and the meta-analysis. The global meta-analysis showed that bleaching impairs the bond strength of adhesive systems to enamel and dentin (p<0.001; mean difference [MD]: -0.96; confidence interval [CI]: -1.18 to -0.73), regardless of the bleaching agent (p<0.001; MD: -9.98; CI: -1.37 to -0.58) or substrate (p<0.001; MD: -0.89; CI: -1.12 to -0.66). The detrimental effect of bleaching on bond strength was not observed after two and three weeks after bleaching (p=0.1; MD: -0.39; CI: -0.84 to 0.65; and p=0.18; MD: -0.99; CI: -2.45 to 0.47, respectively). Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrated that vital bleaching impairs the bonding of adhesive systems to enamel and dentin, and this adverse effect persists for two weeks.