The purpose of this study was to compare the bonding and debonding times of orthodontic brackets with a resin‐modified, self‐cured glass ionomer cement to that of a standard composite resin in a split‐mouth study design. The chair time required for these procedures was assessed on 15 consecutive patients (nine females and six males). In this split‐mouth study design, the oral cavity was divided into quadrants. In eight patients, the maxillary left and the mandibular right quadrants were bonded with glass ionomer cement and the remaining quadrants using the control composite resin. In the remaining seven patients, the quadrants were inverted. Thus, 150 brackets with 0.022′′ slots (Orthos, Ormco/“A” Company, Orange, CA) were bonded with the glass ionomer cement (GC Fuji Ortho, GC America Inc., Chicago, IL) and the remaining 150 with a standard composite resin (System 1+, Ormco/“A” Company, Orange, CA). The bonding time was recorded from the end of the initial polishing phase to the bonding of the last bracket for each quadrant. Patients were followed until the end of orthodontic therapy. The debonding time was recorded from the removal of the first bracket to the residual adhesive removal from the last tooth per each quadrant. The mean bonding time per quadrant (five teeth) required with GC Fuji Ortho (1 min, 58 s) was significantly shorter (p<0.05) than that with System 1+ (4 min, 35 s). Within each bonding material, no statistically significant differences were found (p>0.05) between the upper and lower arches. In both arches, System 1+ required a significantly longer (p<0.05) bonding time than GC Fuji Ortho. The mean debonding time per quadrant required for brackets bonded with GC Fuji Ortho (1 min, 5 s) was significantly shorter (p<0.05) than that required for brackets bonded with System 1+ (1 min, 41 s). No statistically significant differences were found (p>0.05) between the upper and lower arches within each bonding material. In both arches, teeth bonded with System 1+ required a significantly longer (p<0.05) debonding time than those bonded with GC Fuji Ortho.