Özet:

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the conventional etching and primer (CEP) method and the self-etching primer (SEP) method on demineralization while rebonding the brackets. Material and Methods: Sixty extracted maxillary first premolar teeth were divided into 4 groups, each containing 15 teeth. The teeth in Groups 1 and 2 were bonded using CEP, and those in Groups 3 and 4 were bonded using SEP. After the first bonding, adjacent surfaces of the brackets were measured using DIAGNOdent pen, and demineralization values were recorded (T0). The teeth were kept in a demineralization solution for 15 days in a 37°C incubator. Then, all brackets were debonded. The teeth in Groups 1 and 3 were rebonded using CEP, and those in Groups 2 and 4 were rebonded using SEP. In this way, via the enamel surface conditioning prior the first bonding and rebonding, the groups were constructed as; Group 1 (CEP-CEP), Group 2 (CEP-SEP), Group 3 (SEP-CEP) and Group 4 (SEP-SEP). The teeth were kept in the same solutions by same way (T1). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine whether or not the data were normally distributed, the Wilcoxon test was used for comparisons within groups, and the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for comparisons between groups. p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: At T1, the demineralization values in Group 1 obtained from all surfaces were found to be significantly higher than those in Groups 3 and 4 (p<0.05). The amount of increase in demineralization between T0 and T1 was observed to be the greatest on the gingival surfaces and the smallest on occlusal surfaces in all groups. Regardless of the enamel surface measured, the mean increase in values on all surfaces was the highest in Group 1 and the lowest in Group 4. Conclusion: Considering the effects of orthodontic bracket rebonding on the enamel surface, the selfetching primer method produces less enamel demineralization than the conventional etching and primer method.