Effect of Er:YAG laser enamel conditioning and moisture on the microleakage of a hydrophilic sealant
Abstract
For
a given sealant, successful pit and fissure sealing is principally
governed by the enamel conditioning technique and the presence of
moisture contamination. A new generation of hydrophilic resin sealants
is reported to tolerate moisture. This study investigates the impact of
Er:YAG laser pre-conditioning and moisture contamination on the
microleakage of a recent hydrophilic sealant. Occlusal surfaces of
extracted human molars were either acid etched (n = 30), or successively lased and acid etched (n = 30).
Ten teeth from each group were either air-dried, water-contaminated, or
saliva-contaminated prior to sealing with UltraSeal XT®
hydro™. Samples were inspected for penetration of fuchsin dye following
3000 thermocycles between 5 and 50 °C, and the enamel–sealant interfaces
were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Significant
differences in microleakage were evaluated using the Mann–Whitney U test with Bonferroni adjustment (p = 0.05).
Laser pre-conditioning significantly reduced dye penetration
irrespective of whether the enamel surface was moist or dry.
Microleakage of water-contaminated acid etched teeth was significantly
greater than that of their air-dried or saliva-contaminated
counterparts. SEM analysis demonstrated good adaptation in all groups
with the exception of water-contaminated acid etched teeth which
exhibited relatively wide gaps. In conclusion, this hydrophilic sealant
tolerates the presence of saliva, although water was found to impair its
sealing ability. Laser pre-conditioning significantly decreases
microleakage in all cases.
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