AIM: To assess the Adhesive Remnant Index (ARI) in bovine teeth after debonding mesh bases and sandblasted orthodontic bracket bases. METHODS: Were used three bonding systems for the two standards of base. The bovine teeth were divided into 6 groups of 40, according to the bracket base and to the bonding system. Twenty four hours after bonding they had been carried through shear bond strength tests in a universal testing machine. The assessment of ARI was performed in a stereomicroscopy by three calibrated examiners. It was used the non-parametric Kruskall-Wallis test, followed by Dunn's method, to do the multiple comparisons among all groups. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: It was observed that the aluminum oxide sandblasting bracket bases was not determinative to the increase of the adhesiveness between bracket and adhesive. The group where it was used sandblasted orthodontic bracket bases and bonding system TXT (3M-Unitek) + Transbond Plus SEP (3M-Unitek) presented the majority of the failures at the teeth-adhesive interface (score 4).
Orthodontics; Dental enamel; Adhesives
