Effect of different time intervals between sealant application and bracket bond on adhesive strength.
The effect of variation of time between the use of the sealant and the composite itself on the bond strength of the enamel-resin-bracket system was tested in vitro for two composites. Eighty brackets were bonded to extracted human molars, half for each composite. The sealant was applied 1 minute, 2.5 minutes, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes before the use of the composite. The brackets were submitted to a shear force until debonding. Means and standard deviations were calculated. No statistically significant differences were found among the different times of sealant application and between the two composites tested, when a two-way analysis of variance was carried out.