RESUMO
The purpose of this study was to compare the tensile bond strength of composite resin bonded to erbium:yttrium-aluminium-garnet (Er:YAG) laser-prepared dentine after different durations of acid etching. The occlusal third of 68 human third molars was removed in order to expose the dentine surface. The teeth were randomly divided into five groups: group B (control group), prepared with bur and total etch system with 15 s acid etching [37% orthophosphoric acid (H(3)PO(4))]; group L15, laser photo-ablated dentine (200 mJ) (laser irradiation conditions: pulse duration 100 micros, air-water spray, fluence 31.45 J/ cm(2), 10 Hz, non-contact hand pieces, beam spot size 0.9 mm, irradiation speed 3 mm/s, and total irradiation time 2 x 40 s); group L30, laser prepared, laser conditioned and 30 s acid etching; group L60, laser prepared, laser conditioned and 60 s acid etching; group L90, laser prepared, laser conditioned and 90 s acid etching. A plot of composite resin was bonded onto each exposed dentine and then tested for tensile bond strength. The values obtained were statistically analysed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) coupled with the Tukey-Kramer test at the 95% level. A 90 s acid etching before bonding showed the best bonding value (P < 0.05) when compared with all the other groups including the control group. There is no significance difference between other groups, nor within each group and the control group. There was a significant increase in tensile bond strength of the samples acid etched for 90 s.
