The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three different adhesive systems on microleakage of Class V restorations after the use of sodium hypochlorite. One-hundred eighty bovine incisors were selected and randomly divided into 9 groups (n = 20): G1: Single Bond (SB); G2: 10% NaOCl solution (NS) + SB; G3: 10% NaOCl gel (NG) + SB; G4: Prime & Bond NT (PB); G5: NS + PB; G6: NG + PB; G7: Gluma One Bond (GOB); G8: NS + GOB; G9: NG + GOB. Standardized Class V cavities were prepared. All teeth were etched with 37% phosphoric acid for 15 s. In groups 2, 5, and 8, a 10% NaOCl solution was applied for 60 s to the dentin, and in groups 3, 6, and 9, a 10% NaOCl gel was applied to dentin for 60 s. All cavities were restored with composite resin Definite. The specimens were thermocycled for 1000 cycles (5°C to 55°C) and then immersed in 2% buffered solution of methylene blue for 4 h. The specimens were sectioned and analyzed according to a ranking score (0 to 4). Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney non-parametric tests (p ≤ 0.05) were used for statistical analysis. The NaOCl treatment significantly increased microleakage at the dentin margin (p = 0.0129) as shown by the following sums of ranks: G1 = 1008.0a; G4 = 1301.5ab; G3 = 1687.0ab; G7 = 1744.0bc; G2 = 1802.0c; G9 = 1880.0c; G5 = 1889.0c; G8 = 1950.0c; G6 = 1963.0c (different superscripts indicate significant differences). For enamel, there were no statistically significant differences among the groups (p > 0.05). Depending on the adhesive system used, the application of NaOCl increased microleakage along dentin margins.

Keywords: sodium hypochlorite, microleakage, dentin