Purpose: To determine the effects of thermocycling on shear bond strengths (SBSs) of a self-etching primer (SEP) after 10,000 and 20,000 thermal cycles. The tested hypothesis was that 10,000 and 20,000 thermal cycles would affect the bond strength of metal brackets bonded to enamel with the self-etching primer. Materials and Methods: Brackets were bonded to bovine incisors with two etching protocols. In group CM (conventional method), teeth were etched with 37% phosphoric acid for 30 s. In group SEP, a self-etching primer (Transbond Plus, 3M Unitek) was applied. Brackets were bonded with light-curing adhesive (Transbond XT, 3M Unitek). The SBSs were determined after water storage at 37°C for 24 h, after 10,000 and 20,000 cycles of thermocycling. Results: For both groups (CM and SEP), SBSs decreased with 10,000 and 20,000 thermal cycles. These decreased SBSs were significantly different from the values obtained with no thermocycling. Highest SBSs were observed with no thermocycling for groups CM and SEP (18.6 and 18.0 MPa, respectively). These values were not statistically different from each other. Lowest SBSs were obtained with 10,000 and 20,000 thermal cycles for group SEP (14.2 and 14.7 MPa, respectively). These values were significantly different from all other SBSs. Conclusion: This study indicates that the SEP (Transbond Plus) provides clinically acceptable bond strength values compared with the conventional method after 10,000 and 20,000 thermal cycles.
Keywords: self-etching primer, thermocycling, bond strength