Effect of Drying Agents on Shear Bond Strengths of Sealants

A post-etching drying agent has been proposed to enhance penetrating ability of sealants. Objective: This study determined the effect of drying agents on shear bond strengths of a sealant to ground enamel. Materials and Methods: Extracted human teeth were embedded in resin and cut with slow speed cutting machine (Buelher, USA) to obtain flat enamel surfaces. A light-curing pit and fissure sealant (Prevocare, Thailand) was bonded to prepared enamel specimens (bonded area diameter=3mm) following etching procedure with 37% phosphoric acid for 15s, rinsed with water and air-dried. The other specimens were bonded with sealants using the same etching procedure but applied with post-etching drying agents (PrimaDry, Ultradent, USA and an experimental drying agent) for 5s and air-dried. All specimens were stored in distilled water at 37°C for 24h before subjected to a shear bond test using a universal testing machine (Lloyd, England) at a cross-head speed of 0.75mm/min. Results: Shear bond strengths (n=15) were 12.84±3.3MPa for control group, 11.86±2.9MPa for the group using experimental dry agent and 14.63±4.3MPa for PrimaDry group. Results showed no significant difference among the three groups studied (ANOVA, p>0.05). Conclusion: The uses of drying agents did not show significant influence on shear bond strength of the sealant to ground enamel. This study was supported by Dental Research Fund, Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University.