Effects of phosphoric acid concentration and etch duration on the shear bond strength of an orthodontic bonding resin to enamel. An in vitro study.

The purpose of this in vitro study was to determine the effects of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) concentration and duration of etching on the shear bond strength of an orthodontic bonding resin to enamel. Nine bonding procedures, each involving 18 extracted human maxillary permanent canines, were used. Ground enamel surfaces were etched with a 37% H3PO4 solution, a 15% H3PO4 gel, or a 5% H3PO4 solution for 60, 30, and 15 seconds, respectively. Cylinders of an orthodontic bonding resin, Concise, were prepared in a special device. The test specimens were disassembled 15 minutes after preparation and stored in distilled water at 37 degrees C for 24 hours. A shear load was applied to the bonded cylinders at a crosshead speed of 0.02 in.min-1 in an Instron testing machine, and the shear bond strengths were calculated and expressed in MN.m-2. A two-factor analysis of the data showed that the H3PO4 concentration had no significant effect on the shear bond strength, but the duration of etching affected shear bond strength significantly. The enamel aspects of the fractured test specimens were examined microscopically and the percent failure within the bonding resin at the bonding sites estimated. The correlation between shear bond strength and percentage failure within the bonding resin was not significant. The effects of the nine etching procedures on ground and unground enamel surfaces were studied by scanning electron microscopy. The etching procedures produced well-defined etching patterns on both ground and unground enamel surfaces.