Aim
Application of adhesive systems on dentin is a multistep, technique-sensitive procedure. Thus, the aim was to assess the effect of operator experience on the shear bond strength of an etch-and-rinse adhesive system and a self-etch adhesive system on dentin.
Materials and Methods
Forty-eight extracted human molar teeth were used in the study. They were embedded in an acrylic resin after cutting off the roots. The mesial and distal enamels of the teeth were removed to expose dentin surfaces. The samples were allocated to four groups (
n
= 12): Group 1: restorative dentistry specialist with 13 years of experience, Group 2: with 6 years of experience, Group 3: postgraduate operator with 2 years of experience, and Group 4: undergraduate student with 1 year of experience and familiar with adhesive with systems. Each operator applied an etch-and-rinse adhesive system (Adper Single Bond 2) to mesial surface and a self-etch adhesive system (Clearfil SE Bond) to distal surface (
n
= 12). Then, a composite resin (Filtek Z250) was inserted with the aid of a plastic ring (2 mm × 2 mm) and light polymerized. The specimens were stored in distilled water before shear bond strength test. A two-way ANOVA test was used for statistical analysis.
Results
No statistically significant difference was found between each operator type with respect to etch-and-rinse adhesive system (
P
> 0.05); however, the undergraduate student performed better than 2-year experienced operator with respect to self-etch system application (
P
< 0.05).
Conclusion
The shear bond strength of a self-etch system might vary according to the operator's experience.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.