Measurement of adhesion of endodontic sealers to dentin

The bond strength of root canal sealers to dentin seems to be an important property for maintaining the integrity of the seal of root-canal fillings. In the few studies published, various assessment methods were used so quantitative comparison is not possible. The purpose of this study was to develop an effective and easily reproducible model and to test it with nine contemporary, commercially available endodontic sealers. After slicing off the coronal 2 mm of extracted third molars, the exposed dentin served as test surfaces. The teeth were fixed with plaster in 1-inch phenolic rings. Five-mm long sections of polyethylene tubing, filled with freshly mixed sealer, were placed on the dentin and tested for shearing bond strength after setting. A custom-made holder allowed the rings to be attached to an Instron machine, activated at a cross-arm speed of 0.5 mm/min. The mean bond strength, ranged from 0 to 4.9 MPa. The sealers were ranked and those that did not differ statistically in their bond strength were grouped together. This model provides a simple and reproducible means for measuring the in vitro bond strength of endodontic sealers.