PreCoated Brackets - Are they Better? Kiran H Dr.*, Senior Lecturer, Silju Mathew Dr.**, Professor and head, Rajkumar S Dr.***, Professor and head * Department of orthodontics, Raja Rajeshwari Dental College, Bangalore ** Dept of Orthodontics, M.S. Ramaiah dental college, Bangalore *** Dept of Orthodontics, Raja Rajeshwari Dental College, Bangalore Abstract Aim of the study was to test the effect of saliva contamination on the shear bond strength o$$ brackets when using a self-etching primer. Brackets were bonded on 120 premolars accordingly: Group I: Sel Transbond Plus SEP (3M Unitek) was placed on enamel for 15 seconds and uncoated brackets were bonded & light cured for 20 seconds. Group II: Enamel was contaminated with saliva for 10 seconds and blown off w$$ Bonding was repeated as in group I. Group III: SEP was applied for 15 seconds and air dried. Enamel was cc$$ with saliva for 10 seconds, blown off and brackets bonded as in group I & II. Group IV: Enamel was contami$$ with saliva for 10 seconds & blown off. The SEP was applied for 15 seconds and air dried. Re-contaminated with saliva for 10 seconds and bond the brackets as in group I, II, & III. Bonding was repeated with precoated (APC - 3M Unitek) using the same protocol. According to results of ANOVA, bond strength of APC brackets not show statistically significant difference with uncoated brackets (6.2 MPa). Excessive saliva contamination significantly lower bond strength (3.2–3.8 MPa) than the control group or the lesser contaminated samples (5.$$ APC brackets showed clinically acceptable bond strength and maintained adequate bond strength if contamina occurred either before or after the application of primer. Excessive contamination significantly reduced the bo$$ of APC brackets. Top Keywords Self Etching Primer, Saliva Contamination, Precoated Brackets. Top |