Background: Fibre reinforced composite bars (FRC) have applications as bonded retainers, space maintainers and anchorage/movement units. However, the bond strength of attachments to FRC anchorage bars is unknown.
Aims: To compare the shear bond strengths of brackets bonded immediately to FRCs with different orthodontic adhesive systems and bonded with the same adhesives after a 48-hour delay, abraded with a diamond bur and etched with phosphoric acid.
Method: One hundred and five recently extracted upper premolars were randomly assigned to seven groups (N = 15 teeth per group). FRCs were bonded to the buccal surfaces of the teeth and stainless steel orthodontic brackets were bonded to the FRCs with the following adhesive systems: Group 0 (Tetric Flow); Groups 1, 2 and 3 (Immediate bonding with chemically cured, no-mix and light cured composites, respectively, the bars covered with Tetric Flow); Groups 4, 5 and 6 (Bonding to FRCs delayed 48 hours, then bonded with chemically cured, no-mix and light cured composites, respectively, the bars covered with Tetric Flow). The FRC bars in Groups 4, 5 and 6 were abraded with a coarse-grit diamond bur before bonding the attachments to the bars. The shear bond strengths (SBS) were measured with a universal testing machine, and the adhesive remaining on the teeth after debonding was scored with the Adhesive Remnant Index (ARI). Data were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Duncan's post-hoc and Fisher's Exact test.
Results: There were no statistically significant SBS differences between Groups 0 (Mean SBS: 9.56 MPa), 1 (Mean SBS: 9.74 MPa), 2 (Mean SBS: 10.72 MPa) or 3 (Mean SBS: 9.54 MPa). Groups 4, 5 and 6 (Bonding delayed by 48 hours) had SBSs of 11.79 MPa, 11.63 MPa and 13.11 MPa, respectively, and were significantly higher than the SBSs in Groups 1, 2 and 3 (Immediate bonding). There were no significant differences in ARI scores among the groups.
Conclusions: The mean SBSs in all groups fell within the clinically acceptable range (> 7 MPa). The combination of a 48-hour delay between placement of an FRC bar and bonding an attachment, abrading the FRC with a diamond bur and etching with phosphoric acid resulted in higher bond strengths.