Objective: To evaluate the influence of saliva contamination on shear bond strength and the bond failure pattern of 3 adhesive systems (Transbond XT, AdheSE and Xeno III) on orthodontic metallic brackets bonded to human enamel.
Material and methods: Seventy-two permanent human molars were cut longitudinally in a mesiodistal direction, producing seventy-two specimens randomly divided into six groups. Each system was tested under 2 different enamel conditions: no contamination and contaminated with saliva. In T, A and X groups, the adhesive systems were applied to the enamel surface in accordance with manufacturer's instructions. In TS, AS and XS groups, saliva was applied to enamel surface followed by adhesive system application. The samples were stored in distilled water at 37 degrees C for 24 h, and then tested for shear bond strength in a universal testing machine (Emic, DL 2000) running at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. After bond failure, the enamel surfaces were observed under an optical microscope at 40x magnification.
Results: The control and contaminated groups showed no significant difference in shear bond strength for the same adhesive system. However, shear bond strength of T group (17.03+/-4.91) was significantly higher than that of AS (8.58+/-1.73) and XS (10.39+/-4.06) groups (p<0.05). Regarding the bond failure pattern, TS group had significantly higher scores of no adhesive remaining on the tooth in the bonding area than other groups considering the adhesive remnant index (ARI) used to evaluate the amount of adhesive left on the enamel.
Conclusions: Saliva contamination showed little influence on the 24-h shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets.