The purpose of this study was to compare the microtensile bond strength in Class I cavities associated with different light curing modes of same light energy density.

Occlusal enamel was removed to expose a flat dentin surface and twenty box-shaped Class I cavities were prepared in dentin. Single Bond (3M Dental product) was applied and Z 250 was inserted using bulk technique. The composite was light-cured using one of four techniques; pulse delay (PD group), soft-start (SS group), pulse cure (PC group) and standard continuous cure (CC group). The light-curing unit capable of adjusting time and intensity (VIP, Bisco Dental product) was selected and the light energy density for all curing modes was fixed at 16 J/cm². After storage for 24 hours, specimens were sectioned into beams with a rectangular cross-sectional area of approximately 1 mm². Microtensile bond strength (µTBS) test was performed using a universal testing machine (EZ Test, Shimadzu Co.). The results were analyzed using oneway ANOVA and Tukey's test at significance level 0.05. The µTBS of PD group and SS group was higher than that of PC group and CC group.

Within the limitations of this in vitro study, modification of curing modes such as pulse delay and soft start polymerization can improve resin/dentin bond strength in Class I cavities by controlling polymerization velocity of composite resin.