Purpose: This study evaluated the effect of light-curing access on the bond strength of fiber glass posts to the apical area of bovine roots using self-adhesive cement or dual-cured cement with an etch-and-rinse adhesive system.
Materials and methods: The root canals of 60 bovine teeth were endodontically treated and filled. A 15-mm-length post space was prepared and roots were randomly divided into three groups, simulating the levels of light-curing access: coronal (C), with 15-mm post space; middle (M), in which the coronal thirds of roots were cut out, leaving a 10-mm post space; and apical (A), in which the coronal and middle thirds of roots were cut out, leaving a 5-mm post space. Fiber glass posts (Reforpost # 3, Angelus) were cemented with RelyX U100 (3M ESPE) or RelyX ARC/Scotchbond Multi Purpose Plus (SBMP) (3M ESPE) (n=10) and light-cured. After 24 hours, the apical thirds of roots were sectioned perpendicularly to the long axis and submitted to a push-out test (0.5 mm/min, 200 N). The Kruskal-Wallis test compared the three levels of light-curing access, and the Mann-Whitney test compared the cements.
Results: The bond strength was significantly higher in the groups C (p=0.028) and M (p=0.016) when U100 was used, whereas it was similar for both cements in group A. The bond strengths of posts cemented with ARC/SBMP were significantly higher in group A compared to group C (p=0.031).
Conclusions: The type of cement used and the light-curing access level influenced the bond strength between glass fiber posts and root canals. The bond strength of the RelyX ARC/SBMP cement proved to be more dependent on photoactivation than was the RelyX U100 cement. The light-curing access level did not influence the apical bond strength of RelyX U100.