The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of previous phosphoric acid etching on the dentin bond strength of single-step self-etch adhesive systems. Facial surfaces of bovine teeth were wet ground with #600 SiC paper. Adhesives were applied with and without previous phosphoric acid etching, and light irradiated. Resin composite was bonded to the adherend surface, followed by light irradiation and storage in water at 37 degrees C. Four groups (n = 10) were made per adhesive system: with and without previous acid etching and with and without thermal cycling between 5 degrees C and 55 degrees C for 10,000 cycles. Specimens were tested in a shear mode at a crosshead speed of 1.0 mm/min. Two-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD test at a level of 0.05 were performed. The changes in dentin bond strengths were different among the adhesive systems tested. In all experimental conditions of this study, the dentin bond strength decreased or remained unchanged with previous acid etching. From the results of this study, previous acid etching might not be acceptable for increasing dentin bond strength of the single-step self-etch adhesive systems.

The polymerization behavior of the core build-up resins was affected by the power density of the curing unit. The influence of adhesive application differed among the core build-up resins tested.