Marginal leakage of two newer glass-ionomer-based sealant materials assessed using micro-CT

Objectives To test newer glass-ionomer-based materials as sealant materials One glass-ionomer sealant was light-cured to obtain an early setting reaction The null-hypothesis tested was there is no difference in marginal leakage of sealants produced with high-viscosity glass-ionomer, with and without energy supplied, and that of glass-carbomer, in comparison with resin composite sealants in vitro Methods Materials used were Clinpro (R), Ketac Molar Easymix (R) and Glass-Carbomer (R) Sealants were placed in the occlusal surface of 89 molar teeth, thermocycled for 5000 cycles and evaluated using micro-CT for silver nitrate penetration depth at the enamel-sealant interface by two trained evaluators Data were analysed, using ANOVA and Scheffe's test Results Glass-carbomer sealants showed one or more 'fracture lines' in the material and at the enamel-material interface, filled with a kind of transparent, but not black coloured, material High-viscosity glass-ionomer sealants with and without energy supplied had statistically significantly lower mean marginal leakage scores than sealants produced by composite resin (p < 0 01). No marginal leakage was found in the high-viscosity glass-ionomer group without energy supplied Conclusions The high-viscosity glass-ionomer (Ketac Molar Easymix (R)) sealants had lower marginal leakage than resin composite sealants, and should be tested in vivo Glass-carbomer sealants were non-interpretable (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved