Rebond strength of bonded lingual wire retainers

There is no consensus in the literature concerning the rebonding procedure for orthodontic retainers. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the bond and rebond strength of retainers bonded to enamel surfaces with and without composite remnants. The retainers were bonded with Excite and Tetric Flow on three different surfaces: clean enamel, enamel where the composite had been removed by a tungsten carbide bur, and with cured composite remnants roughened by a tungsten carbide bur. The bond strength was determined by means of a cantilever-tensile bond strength test using a repeated crossover design. Each tooth was rebonded twice and tested three times (N = 114). The surface was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction and micro X-ray fluorescence (EDAX), and scored using the adhesive remnant index (ARI).
Two-way analysis of variance of the mean bond strengths did not show significant differences between the three different enamel surface treatments. However, the specimens with cured composite remnants showed a higher standard deviation. This was confirmed by Weibull analyses. The ARI score showed that 96.5 per cent of bond fractures occurred at the retainer-resin interface. In contrast to the ARI score obtained in this study, the clinical ARI scores also showed failures at the resin-enamel interface. Based on these results, it is recommended that for rebonding the bond site is controlled, and the enamel surfaces are free of old composites remnants.