Effect of Bioglass 45S5 air-abrasion on dentin bonding: evaluation of microtensile bond strength and confocal microscopy

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of air-abrasion executed with Bioglass 45S5 on the bonding performance of total and self-etching techniques. Human molars were divided into four groups (n = 5) according to the surface treatment: G1: self-etching without air-abrasion; G2: total-etching without air-abrasion; G3: self-etching with air-abrasion Bioglass 45S5 for 1 min; and G4: total-etching with air-abrasion Bioglass 45S5 for 1 min. The Single Bond Universal (3 M ESPE, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA) was used in both etching techniques. The adhesive was photo-activated by a LED with 800 mW/cm² irradiance (Ultralume 5, Ultradent Products, South Jordan, UT, USA). Composite resin blocks were made on the dentin using Filtek Z100 (3M ESPE, St. Paul, MN, USA). Then, the samples were cut to obtain sticks attached to a jig in a universal testing machine (EZ Test, Shimadzu, Kyoto, Kansai, Japan) for testing microtensile bond strength (μTBS). The values μTBS of microtensile bond strength were submitted to two-way ANOVA and means were compared by Tukey test (p < 0.05). The results showed significant differences in μTBS between G1 and G2. No differences were found between G3 and G4. For the self-etching technique no differences were found for G1 and G3. In total-etching, G2 showed greater μTBS than G4. The application of Bioglass 45S5 on dentin did not increase the microtensile bond strength in self-etching groups and decreased the bond strength values for total-etching groups, but improved the quality of the hybrid layer.