Bovine tooth is a substitute for human tooth on bond strength studies: A systematic review and meta-analysis of in vitro studies

- Bovine teeth can be used as a substitute of human teeth on bond strength studies.
- Both substrates-enamel and dentin of bovine teeth seems to be similar to human ones considering bond strength values.
- Bovine primary teeth should be used carefully as a substitute of human primary teeth considering the number of studies comparing these substrates.

ObjectivesThis study aimed to systematically review the literature to compare the bond strength values achieved from human and bovine teeth of in vitro studies.Data and sourceThe PubMed/MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science and Scopus electronic databases were searched to select laboratorial studies that evaluated adhesive systems bond strength to human and bovine teeth. No publication year or language restriction was considered.Study selectionFrom 1,285 potentially eligible studies, 15 were selected for full-text analysis, 11 were included in the systematic review and 9 in the meta-analysis. Two authors independently selected the studies, extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias. Mean differences were obtained by comparing bond strength values between human and bovine teeth (overall analysis), and considering enamel and dentin separately (subgroups analysis). Statistical analysis was performed using RevMan5.1, with random effects model, at a significance level of p = 0.05.ResultsNo significant difference was found between human and bovine teeth (p = 0.35), either for enamel (p = 0.07) or for dentin (p = 0.93) substrates. Low to moderate heterogeneity was found on the meta-analysis. All included studies in the systematic review scored between medium and high risk of bias.ConclusionsBovine teeth can be a reliable substitute for human ones on bond strength studies of adhesive systems to both enamel and dentin substrates.