Introduction
Dental adhesives have been used in several clinical conditions especially to improve the retention strength of restorations and to prevent microleakage. Initially multi-bottle, total-etch adhesive systems were used. Now simplified adhesive systems, such as total-etch and self-etch systems, have been introduced.1-5
The adhesive luting of prefabricated fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) posts has been considered mandatory in order to optimize the pull-out strength of these posts. The clinical performance of a prosthetic restoration with a fiber post depends on several factors6 such as: the type of the post material, shape, dimension, and length;7-10 the quality and quantity of remaining dentin;11-12 the type of adhesive and cement used; and the adaptation of the post inside the root canal.13-14
However, the resin bond to root dentin is problematic as the bond strength can be affected by some factors as follows:
- The dentin substrate provides a lower hybridization potential.15,16
- There is a higher configuration factor in root canals (high polymerization stress of resin cements),17,18 and the bond to root canal dentin appears to be attributed to friction resistance.19
- It is difficult to perform light curing inside the root canal.14,20
- There may be chemical incompatibility between the adhesive system and resin cement.21-27
Some studies have indicated a probable chemical incompatibility between adhesive systems with low pH and resinous materials of chemical- and dual-polymerization.21-27 A correlation was observed between the decline in microtensile bond strengths of chemical-cured composites coupled to bonded dentin and the acidity of these adhesives.23 Another study21 evaluated the experimental application of an additional hydrophobic adhesive layer on the crown dentin after a self-etching primer was used for adhesive luting. The authors noted this additional resin layer significantly improved the bond strength by 35%, mainly due to the decrease in the pH of the surface contacting the resin cement.
Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the push-out bond strengths of a multi-bottle and three simplified adhesive systems to bovine root dentin. The hypothesis was the experimental application of an additional layer of a non-acidic low-viscosity hydrophobic bonding resin improves the bond strength of the all-in-one adhesive.

