This study evaluated the effect of dentin pretreatment with 2%
chlorhexidine (CHX) or 24%
ethylenediamine tetra-
acetic acid gel (
EDTA) on the dentin microtensile bond strength (μTBS) of
resin cements. Composite blocks were luted to superficial noncarious human dentin (n=10) using two
resin cements (
RelyX ARC [
ARC] and RelyX U100 [U100]) and three dentin pretreatments (without pretreatment-control, CHX, and
EDTA). CHX was applied for 60 seconds on the
acid-etched dentin in the
ARC/CHX group, and for the same time on
smear layer-covered dentin in the U100/CHX group.
EDTA was applied for 45 seconds on smear-covered dentin in the U100/
EDTA group, and it replaced
phosphoric acid conditioning in the
ARC/
EDTA group for 60 seconds. After storage in water for 24 hours, specimens were prepared for microtensile bond strength testing. The results were submitted to two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey test.
ARC produced significantly higher μTBS (p<0.05) compared to the U100, except when
EDTA was used. For
ARC, no pretreatment and CHX produced higher μTBS than
EDTA. For U100,
EDTA produced higher μTBS; no statistical difference occurred between CHX pretreatment and when no pretreatment was performed. While CHX did not affect immediate dentin bond strength of both cements,
EDTA improved bond strength of U100, but it reduced dentin bond strength of
ARC.