Effects of silica coating and silane surface conditioning on the bond strength of metal and ceramic brackets to enamel

To evaluate the effect of tribochemical silica coating and silane surface conditioning on the bond strength of metal and ceramic brackets bonded to enamel surfaces with light-cured composite resin. Twenty metal and 20 ceramic brackets were divided into four groups (n = 10 for each group). The specimens were randomly assigned to one of the following treatment conditions of the metal and ceramic brackets' surface: (1) tribochemical silica coating combined with silane and (2) no treatment. Brackets were bonded to the enamel surface on the labial and lingual sides of human maxillary premolars (20 total) with a light-polymerized resin composite. All specimens were stored in water for 1 week at 37 degrees C and then thermocycled (5000 cycles, 5 degrees C to 55 degrees C, 30 seconds). The shear bond strength values were measured on a universal testing machine. Student's t-test was used to compare the data (alpha = 0.05). The types of failures were observed using a stereomicroscope. Metal and ceramic brackets treated with silica coating with silanization had significantly greater bond strength values (metal brackets: 14.2 +/- 1.7 MPa, P < .01; ceramic brackets: 25.9 +/- 4.4 MPa, P < .0001) than the control groups (metal brackets: 11.9 +/- 1.3 MPa; ceramic brackets: 15.6 +/- 4.2 MPa). Treated specimens of metal and ceramic exhibited cohesive failures in resin and adhesive failures at the enamel-adhesive interface, whereas control specimens showed mixed types of failures. Silica coating with aluminum trioxide particles coated with silica followed by silanization gave higher bond strengths in both metal and ceramic brackets than in the control group.