Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the conventional etching and primer (CEP) method and
the self-etching primer (SEP) method on demineralization while rebonding the brackets.
Material and Methods: Sixty extracted maxillary first premolar teeth were divided into 4 groups, each
containing 15 teeth. The teeth in Groups 1 and 2 were bonded using CEP, and those in Groups 3 and
4 were bonded using SEP. After the first bonding, adjacent surfaces of the brackets were measured
using DIAGNOdent pen, and demineralization values were recorded (T0). The teeth were kept in a
demineralization solution for 15 days in a 37°C incubator. Then, all brackets were debonded. The teeth
in Groups 1 and 3 were rebonded using CEP, and those in Groups 2 and 4 were rebonded using
SEP. In this way, via the enamel surface conditioning prior the first bonding and rebonding, the groups
were constructed as; Group 1 (CEP-CEP), Group 2 (CEP-SEP), Group 3 (SEP-CEP) and Group 4
(SEP-SEP). The teeth were kept in the same solutions by same way (T1). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov
test was used to determine whether or not the data were normally distributed, the Wilcoxon test was
used for comparisons within groups, and the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for
comparisons between groups. p