The purpose of this study was to compare the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets to enamel in four bonding protocols: SEP without prior pumicing (None), Pre-etch and SEP without prior pumicing (Pre-etch), control: SEP with prior pumicing (Pumice), and Pre-etch and SEP with prior pumicing (Both). 80 extracted bovine incisors were randomly divided into 4 groups of 20, and brackets were bonded under the different experimental conditions. Debonding force was measured with an Instron universal testing machine. A two-way ANOVA comparing the four groups indicated that there was a significant difference in debonding force (P = 0.001). The SEP without prior pumicing group (17.69 ± 7.18 MPa) was statistically different from the SEP group with prior pumicing (25.82 ± 6.84 MPa). There was no statistical difference found among the other groups. Differences in the Adhesive Remnant Index (ARI) were analyzed by chi-square. ARI scores differed significantly (P =0.0048).