The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of a cyanoacrylate orthodontic adhesive with regard to tensile bond strength and bond failure location in comparison with a conventional no-mix orthodontic composite adhesive using stainless steel and ceramic brackets. One-hundred-and-twenty caries-free extracted premolar teeth were used in this study. There were 30 specimens for each tooth, adhesive, and bracket combination, and of these half were tested at 24 hours and half at 3 months. Hence, there were 15 samples in each test group. Bond strengths were assessed using an Instron Universal Testing Machine after storage for 24 hours and for 3 months at 37 degrees C in distilled water. Analysis of variance showed the mean bond strength of specimens bonded with cyanoacrylate was significantly lower than for those bonded with Right-on (P < 0.001). Weibull analysis showed that at a given stress the probability of failure significantly increased after 3 months for brackets bonded with cyanoacrylate. A Chi-square test of the ARI scores revealed no significant difference among the groups tested. This study showed that cyanoacrylate adhesives are unsuitable for use as a bonding agent in routine orthodontic practice.