Interfacial Nanoleakage and Bonding of Self-Adhesive Systems Cured with a Modified-Layering Technique to Dentin of Weakened Roots

SUMMARY Objective The purpose of the study was to evaluate the nanoleakage and bond strength of different self adhesive systems cured with a modified-layering technique (MLT) to dentin of weakened roots. Methods Twenty-one maxillary incisors were decoronated and then root canals were instrumented and obturated with the cold lateral compaction technique. Weakened roots were simulated by flaring root canals until only 1 mm dentin thickness remained. Teeth were distributed into three groups. The canals were backfilled with Vertise Flow (VF group), a self-adhering system, following a modified-layering technique using two light-transmitting posts, sizes 6 and 3. DT Light Post size 2 was cemented using the same material. Remaining roots were prepared and cured in the same way as the VF group. However, in the TS/MF group, Clearfil Tri-S Bond (TS) adhesive and Clearfil Majesty Flow (MF) composite were used, while in the ED/PF group, ED primer II (ED)/Panavia F2.0 (PF) were used. After one week of storage, each root was sectioned to obtain six slices (two slices from each root third: coronal, middle and apical) of 0.9 ± 0.1 mm thickness. Interfacial nanoleakage expression was analyzed using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM), and the micro push-out bond strength (μPOBS) was measured at different root regions. Modes of failure were also determined using SEM. Data were statistically analyzed using two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures and Tukey post hoc test (p≤0.05). Results With MLT, all adhesive systems showed nanoleakage. For μPOBS, there was a statistically significant effect for adhesive systems (p<0.001) but not for root region (p<0.64) or for their interaction (p=0.99). Tukey post hoc test revealed that the bond strength of the VF group was significantly higher than the TS/MF and ED/PF groups for all root regions. Conclusion All of the tested self-adhesive systems cured using MLT had slight nanoleakage and were not sensitive to root regional differences. Self-adhering systems had higher bond strength than self-etch adhesives.