Objective: To determine the consensus among studies that adhesive resin application improves the bond strength of orthodontic brackets and the association of methodological variables on the influence of bond strength outcome.
Materials and methods: In vitro studies were selected to answer whether adhesive resin application increases the immediate shear bond strength of metal orthodontic brackets bonded with a photo-cured orthodontic adhesive. Studies included were those comparing a group having adhesive resin to a group without adhesive resin with the primary outcome measurement shear bond strength in MPa. A systematic electronic search was performed in PubMed and Scopus databases.
Results: Nine studies were included in the analysis. Based on the pooled data and due to a high heterogeneity among studies (I(2) = 93.3), a meta-regression analysis was conducted. The analysis demonstrated that five experimental conditions explained 86.1% of heterogeneity and four of them had significantly affected in vitro shear bond testing. The shear bond strength of metal brackets was not significantly affected when bonded with adhesive resin, when compared to those without adhesive resin.
Conclusions: The adhesive resin application can be set aside during metal bracket bonding to enamel regardless of the type of orthodontic adhesive used.
Keywords: Dental bonding; Orthodontic brackets; Shear strength.