Effect of over-the-counter whitening strips and toothpaste on shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets.

BACKGROUND

To investigate: 1) the effects of over-the-counter white strip enamel bleaching and 2-Step whitening toothpaste application on the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets at 24-hours and 7-days post-bleaching latent period; and 2) the correlation between amount of bleaching and shear bond strength.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Sixty human premolar teeth were randomly assigned into two bleaching groups, white strip group treated with Crest® 3D WHITE™ LUXE Professional Effects Whitestrips (Proctor & Gamble, Greensboro, NC), and whitening toothpaste group, treated with Crest® 3D WHITE™ BRILLIANCE 2-Step Toothpaste (Proctor & Gamble, Greensboro, NC). The groups were further divided into 4 subgroups A, B, C, D (n=15 per group). Subgroups A and C were bonded 7 days after bleaching while subgoups B and D were bonded 24 hours after bleaching. Differences in shear bond strength between the subgroups and an unbleached control group (n=15) were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Spectrophotometric color changes were recorded pre- and post-bleaching.

RESULTS

The mean shear bond strength for the white strip groups were 10.35±3.6 MPa and 11.69±4.33 MPa for the 7-day and 24-hour delayed bonding periods, respectively. Means for the whitening toothpaste groups were 11.01±4.31 MPa and 10.83±3.79 MPa for the 7-day and 24-hour delayed bonding periods. The mean for the control group was 9.59±3.32 MPa. There were no significant differences in shear bond strength between the groups at 7-days and 24-hour (=0.650). There was a significant difference between teeth bleached with white strips as compared to those bleached with toothpaste and controls. The correlations between color change and shear bond strength were not significant (=0.448).

CONCLUSIONS

There is a significant difference in the amount of whitening achieved by over-the-counter white strips compared to toothpaste; however, no significant effects on shear bond strength occurred after bleaching with white strips and toothpaste at 24-hours and 7-days. Bleaching, shear bond strength, orthodontics, over-the-counter.