Shear fatigue strength of resin composite bonded to dentin at physiological frequency.

The purpose of this study was to examine the shear fatigue strengths of a resin composite bonded to dentin. Three adhesive systems - a two-step self-etch adhesive (OptiBond XTR; Kerr) and two universal adhesives [Scotchbond Universal (3M ESPE) and G-Premio Bond (GC)] - were used in self-etch mode to bond a resin composite to dentin at a physiologic frequency of 2 Hz over 50,000, 100,000, and 1,000,000 cycles. A staircase method of fatigue testing was used. Twenty specimens were used for each test condition. There was no significant difference in shear fatigue strength across the cycling periods for the three individual adhesives. Differences in shear fatigue strength were found among the three adhesives within each cycling period. Regardless of the adhesive used in self-etch mode for bonding a resin composite to dentin, shear fatigue strength was not influenced by the number of cycles used for testing.