Abstract
A laboratory study was conducted to determine the shear bond strength to enamel and dentin using the Scotchbond Multi-Purpose dental adhesive system. High shear bond strengths of P50 composite to both human enamel (26.8 +/- 5.2 MPa) and bovine enamel (24.8 +/- 4.1 MPa) were found when the system was used according to manufacturer's directions. The mean bond strength for human dentin (25.5 +/- 7.5 MPa) was also similar to that found for bovine dentin (23.4 +/- 4.9 MPa). Variations in the recommended application technique were examined on bovine dentin. Extreme air drying of the primer slightly reduced the mean shear bond strength (19.7 +/- 6.4 MPa), while a significant reduction was observed when the adhesive resin was aggressively air-thinned (10.1 +/- 6.6 Mpa).