Carbodiimide Pretreatment Associated With Different Fiber Post Cementation Strategies

Objectives: To investigate the effect of 0.3M carbodiimide (EDC) aqueous solution pretreatment on push-out bond strength (PBS) and matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) activity within radicular dentin when different post cementation strategies were employed.
Methods: Sixty intact monoradicular human teeth were endodontically treated and randomly divided into groups, depending on the cementation strategy and dentin pretreatment (n=10): i) EAR, cementation with an etch-and-rinse adhesive (LuxaBond Total Etch, DMG) and resin cement (LuxaCore Z Dual, DMG); ii) EAR/EDC, as in group EAR + 1 min EDC pretreatment; iii) SE, cementation with a self-etch primer (Multilink Primer, Ivoclar Vivadent) and corresponding cement (Multilink Automix, Ivoclar Vivadent); iv) SE/EDC, as in group SE, with EDC pretreatment; v) SA, cementation with a universal self-adhesive cement (RelyX Universal, 3M); vi) SA/EDC, as in SA group, with EDC pretreatment. After 24h, the roots were sectioned into 1-mm thick slices and subjected to push-out bond strength test. To investigate the effect of EDC on MMPs activity, 4 additional first maxillary premolars per group were processed for in situ zymography analysis. Three-way analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey tests were used to analyze PBS values (α=0.05). The data from in situ zymography was analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis one way analysis of variance and pairwise multiple comparison procedures (Dunn's Method) (p<0.05).
Results: EDC pretreatment and the cementation strategy did not influence PBS values (p>0.05). Significantly lower level of enzymatic activity was detected in EAR/EDC and SE/EDC groups when compared to controls (p<0.05).
Conclusions: EDC pretreatment did not influence the immediate PBS values and it was effective in silencing endogenous enzymatic activity within radicular dentin, which might improve the longevity of post and core restorations of endodontically treated teeth.