The Effect of Dental Enamel Pre-Etching for Self-Etching Adhesives According to their Primer pH: An In Vitro Bond Strength, Etching Pattern and Adhesive Failure Evaluation

Dental enamel pre-etching before the application of a self-etching adhesive (SEA) has different effects depending on the pH of the adhesive acidic monomer, being not always beneficial. This study aimed to evaluate the shear bond strength (SBS), etching pattern, and fracture type of different acidity SEAs, with and without previous phosphoric acid etching. One-hundred-sixty bovine incisors were subjected to SBS testing with the following adhesive systems: Adper-Prompt-L-Pop (APLP) (strong acidity), Futurabond NR (FB), AdheSE One F (AD) (intermediary acidity) and Clearfil SE (CSE) (mild acidity), with and without previous phosphoric acid etching. Results were evaluated applying both ANOVA and Tukey’s test. Besides, forty bovine incisors were used to assess etching patterns using scanning-electron-microscopy (SEM). Adhesive failure was evaluated, classifying bond failure as one of five types. SBS averages were (MPa): without pre-etching: APLP (20.61±11.84), CSE (17.29±10.16), FB (11.44±6.99), AD (7.88±4.85) and with pre-etching: APLP (16.17±9.68), CSE (25.96±11.75), FB (20.12±9.39), AD (14,28±9.42). Different enamel etching patterns were observed depending on each SEA’s pH and whether the surface was pre-etched. Most fracture failures were adhesive type. Less than 10 % were cohesive type. SBS improves when mild and intermediary strength SEAs are pre-etched. However, it decreases when strong SEAs are pre-etched.