Effect of Adhesion Boosters on the Shear Bond Strength of New Brackets Bonded to a Debonded Tooth Surface – An In vitro Study

CONTEXT: Effect of adhesion boosters on shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets. AIM: The aim is to evaluate the shear bond strength and adhesive remnant index (ARI) score of new brackets bonded to a debonded tooth surface with and without the use of adhesion boosters. SETTINGS AND DESIGNS: In vitro comparative study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Adhesion boosters: Enhance LC (Reliance, Itasca III) All Bond 2 (Bisco, Schaumsburg) and the Composite adhesives Transbond XT (3M UNITEK) Enlight (ORMCO) were used in this study. One hundred and eight extracted maxillary first premolar teeth were bonded with light cure composite to etched tooth surface. The brackets were then debonded with debonding pliers after 1 week and it was polished with low speed tungston carbide bur and rubber cup. The teeth were divided into six groups and they were etched, washed, and dried again. New brackets were rebonded to the tooth surface using composites with or without adhesion boosters. Then, the shear bond strength value was calculated for each bracket with a universal testing machine. ARI scores were also evaluated. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: One-way ANOVA and least significant difference post hoc test was used for the association between variables. Probability value (P < 0.05) was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The results showed a statistically significant difference between the groups with a P < 0.001. There was no significant difference in ARI scores between the groups (P = 0.15). CONCLUSIONS: Both the adhesion boosters significantly improved the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets. There was no statistically significant difference in the ARI scores.