Effect of saliva contamination and re-etching time on the shear bond strength of a pit and fissure sealant.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of saliva contamination (SCT) and re-etching time (RET) on the shear bond strength (SBS) of the Fluroshield sealant. Forty-five extracted third molars were sectioned and flattened until reach an enamel surface area. Then, all samples were etched for 30 sec with 35% phosphoric acid and then they were distributed into 9 groups (n=10) according to SCT and RET (seconds), respectively: G1- control (no SCT and no RET); G2- 30s and 0s; G3- 60s and 0s; G4-30s and 2s; G5- 30s and 5s; G6- 30s and 15s; G7-60s and 2s; G8- 60s and 5s; G9- 60s and 15s. The sealant was applied according to the manufacturer's instructions. The samples were stored in distilled water at 37ºC for 72h and subjected to the SBS test. The results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (p>0.05). However, it could be noticed that: 1- the longer the SCT, the lower the SBS values; 2 - the longer the RET, the higher the SBS values. It could be concluded that there was a tendency to the shortest SCT (30s) associated to the longest RET (5 and 15s) to reach similar SBS values for the control group.