Purpose: To evaluate the hydrolytic stability of three one-step self-etching adhesives (1-SEAs) bonded to dentin through bond strength testing and ultra-morphological interfacial analysis before and after long-term thermocycling. Materials and Methods: Eighteen flattened mid-coronal dentin surfaces of extracted human molars were subjected to bonding treatment using three 1-SEAs (Clearfil S3 Bond, Kuraray (S3), G-Bond, GC (GB), Absolute, Dentsply-Sankin (AB)), after which the bonded surfaces were built up with composite. After storage overnight at 37°C, the specimens were sectioned into slabs and further trimmed into an hourglass shape with an interface area of approximately 1 mm2. The specimens were left untouched (control) or were thermocycled for 100,000 cycles. The microtensile bond strength (μTBS) was measured and the ultrastructure of the adhesive/dentin interface characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results: Long-term thermocycling significantly decreased the μTBS of all one-step adhesives tested (p < 0.05, oneway ANOVA and Games-Howell test). TEM revealed a similar interfacial ultrastructure before and after thermocycling for S3. For GB, many voids were observed at the interface after 100,000 thermocycles. Regarding AB, collagen fibrils could no longer be clearly observed upon staining, while the adjacent unaffected dentin was rich in voids. Conclusion: The bond strength and ultramorphological data demonstrated that the bond of 1-SEAs to dentin degrades with time, although the degree of degradation is obviously material dependent.
Keywords: one-step self-etching adhesives, bonding effectiveness, thermal cycles, dentin