ABSTRACT
Bond strengths in dentine bonding systems (DBSs) were measured during shear or tensile bond testing, and their characteristics were estimated by the following methods. The effect of the resin composite/dentine interface (bonding area) for copolymerization with resin composite on the distribution of interfacial stress during tensile bond testing was determined using finite element method (FEM). In addition, average stresses during shear bond testing were calculated along the interface and the strength values were normalized by elastic moduli of bonding area which were obtained by the same nano-indentation test as an earlier report. The interfacial stress had greater values along dentine site than resin composite site in FEM model and the normalized stress values ranged from 0.1 × 10−3 to 1.7 × 10−3.
