The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of static loading on the measured shear bond strength of steel attachments bonded to enamel. Sixty steel attachments were bonded to extracted and prepared premolar teeth with Orthodontic Concise (3M St Paul, Minnesota, USA) and allowed to bench cure for 2 weeks. Half the specimens had 78 g weights suspended from the attachment, close to the bondline, prior to testing. The mean shear bond strength for the statically loaded samples was 127 N and for the unloaded 85.4 N. The 95 per cent confidence intervals for the difference between the means was 26.7-56.8 N indicating that static loading prior to shear testing significantly increases shear bond strength.