Comparative Evaluation of Various Antioxidants on the Shear Bond Strength of Composite Resin to Bleached Enamel - An In Vitro Study.

Aim: To evaluate and compare the effect of various antioxidants on the shear bond strength of composite resin to bleached enamel.

Materials and methods: Labial enamel surfaces of 90 extracted human maxillary central incisors were randomly divided into five groups based on the antioxidant used as follows: Group I (n = 20): Bleaching with 40% hydrogen peroxide gel for 10 min, without the use of an antioxidant; Group II (n = 20): Bleaching followed by the use of 10% sodium ascorbate solution; Group III (n = 20): Bleaching followed by the use of 5% grape seed extract solution; Group IV (n=20): Bleaching followed by the use of 5% pine bark extract solution; and Group V (n=20): Control group in which no bleaching was done. Groups I-IV were further subdivided into two subgroups of 10 teeth each, whether the antioxidant application and composite build-up was done immediately (subgroup A) or after 2 weeks of postbleaching (subgroup B). Shear bond strength of the specimens was tested under a universal testing machine.

Results: One-way analysis of variance followed by Mann-Tukey posthoc multiple comparison test was used to analyse the data. The level of significance was established at P < 0.05.

Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, it was observed that the use of antioxidants effectively reversed the compromised bond strength of bleached enamel. Among the antioxidants, 5% pine bark extract application after bleaching showed better bond strength.