Dentin Bonding Testing Using a Mini-interfacial Fracture Toughness Approach

Measurement of interfacial fracture toughness (iFT) is considered a more valid method to assess bonding effectiveness as compared with conventional bond strength testing. Common fracture toughness tests are, however, laborious and require a relatively bulky specimen size. This study aimed to evaluate a new simplified and miniaturized iFT (mini-iFT) test. Four dentin adhesives, representing the main adhesive classes, and 1 glass ionomer cement were applied onto flat dentin. Mini-iFT (1.5 × 2.0 × 16 to 18 mm) and microtensile bond strength (µTBS; 1.5 × 1.5 × 16 to 18 mm) specimens were prepared from the same tooth. For the mini-iFT specimens, a single notch was cut at the adhesive-dentin interface with a 150-µm diamond blade under water cooling; the specimens were loaded until failure in a 4-point bending test setup. Finite element analysis was used to analyze stress distribution during mini-iFT testing. The correlation between the mean mini-iFT and µTBS was examined and found to be significant; a strong po...