Assessment of Microshear Bond Strength: Self-Etching Sealant versus Conventional Sealant

OBJECTIVE: Recently, self-etching fissure sealants have been introduced to reduce technical sensitivity; however, their efficacy should be assessed. The aim of this study was to assess of the microshear bond strength of self-etching and conventional fissure sealants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty non-carious third molars were randomly divided into three groups (N=10). Microcylinders of Concise fissure sealant were bonded to prepared buccal and lingual surfaces using the two following procedures. In the first group, phosphoric acid was used to prepare the substrate; whereas in group two, Concise was used in combination with Prompt L-Pop. In group 3, a self-etching fissure sealant (Enamel Loc) was utilized per se. After 24 hours, the samples were subjected to 500 rounds of thermocycling and shear bond testing using a microtensile tester machine with a crosshead speed of 0.5mm/min. Data were analyzed using one-way repeated measure ANOVA and Bonferroni Post HOC tests (SPSS version 16). RESULTS: The mean and standard deviation of microshear bond strength of the groups were as follows: Group 1: Concise+ etching (14.59 ± 1.19 MPa), Group 2: Concise+Prompt L-Pop (12.86 ± 1.98 MPa), and Group 3: Enamel Loc (5.59 ± 0.72 MPa). One-way ANOVA revealed that all the differences were significant and the conventional sealant exhibited the highest mean bond strength. CONCLUSION: Conventional sealant using phosphoric acid etch application prior to fissure sealant application demonstrated more bond strength in comparison with that of self-etch bonding and self-etch sealant.