Effect of Desensitizing Agents on the Bond Strength of Mild and Strong Self-etching Adhesives

Background: Desensitizing agents are used, almost as routine practice, in many adhesive restorative procedures. There is still debate as to their effect in dentin bonding, particularly with self-etching adhesives. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of different desensitizing agents on the bond strength of mild and strong self-etching adhesive systems to dentin. Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty recently extracted, noncarious human molars were used to obtain superficial dentin substrate for bonding. No desensitizer was used in the control groups. The experimental groups were pretreated with Gluma Desensitizer, MicroPrime B, and Dentin Desensitizer immediately prior to bonding with self-etching adhesives Optibond XTR, Xeno IV, and iBond. A bonding jig was used to fabricate composite cylinders, which were stored for either 24 hours or three months, after which the shear bond strength (SBS) was evaluated using a notched-edge testing device at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. Failure mode distribution was also evaluated at 24 hours and three months. A two-way analysis of variance, Tukey test, and Student t-test, with a significance level of p<0.05, were used for data analysis. Results: At 24 hours, there was no significant difference in SBS when the same adhesive was used with any of the experimental desensitizing agents compared with the control group without desensitizer. However, at three months, Dentin Desensitizer bonded with Optibond XTR demonstrated significantly lower SBS (p<0.001), while Gluma bonded with iBond showed significantly higher SBS values (p=0.034) relative to their corresponding control group. Only MicroPrime B bonded with Xeno IV and iBond with no desensitizer demonstrated a significant reduction in SBS after three months (p=0.034 and p=0.002, respectively). The most prevalent type of failure was adhesive. Conclusion: Desensitizing agents can be used in combination with self-etching adhesives to control hypersensitivity without adversely affecting their bond strength to dentin.