Tensile bond strengths of four different dentin adhesives on irradiated and non-irradiated human dentin in vitro.

This study evaluated the influence of irradiation on dentin bond strength. Sixty irradiated and 60 non-irradiated human third molars were used. The irradiation dose of 60 Gy was fractionally applied over 6 weeks (2 Gy day(-1), 5 days week(-1). All teeth were prepared in a special manner allowing the simulation of intra-pulpal pressure and dentin perfusion. Dentin specimens with a thickness of 2.0 mm were obtained under standardized conditions. The specimens were randomly assigned to four experimental groups. Tensile bond strength of four different dentin bonding agents (Scotchbond 1, Solobond Plus, Prime&Bond 2.1 and Syntac) was evaluated using an Instron Universal testing machine. Pairwise comparison did not show any significant differences between the irradiated and non-irradiated groups. The influence of the different dentin adhesives was significant (P=0.0001; ANOVA). Compared with Solobond Plus and Prime&Bond 2.1, the use of Scotchbond 1 resulted in a significantly higher tensile bond strength in non-irradiated specimen (P< 0.05; closed test procedure based on Kruskal-Wallis test). Within the limitations of an in vitro study, it can be concluded that adhesive restoration procedures can be successfully used in patients irradiated for cancer of the head and neck.