Clinical Comparison of Fissure Sealants Retention Following Preparation with Seventh Generation Bonding Agent with Prior Etching and Conventional Acid Etch and Bond System (fifth Generation)

Fissure sealant therapy is a preventive method relied on covering pits and fissures to prohibit bacteria from settling on tooth and producing acid, which cause tooth demineralization. The benefits of caries prevention could only be achieved when the sealants remain intact for a long time, thus long-lasting retention is mandatory. Despite recently achieved improvement in sealant quality, their retention in long course remains a challenging issue in dentistry. The purpose of our study was to compare the clinical efficacy of sealants after using seventh generation adhesive and additional etchant material with fifth generation bonding agent.

In this randomized clinical trial, 40 patients in the age group of 7 to 12 years were randomly selected. All participants had a pair of sound first permanent molar in the mandible, which need fissure sealant therapy. For each patient, one tooth was treated with seventh generation bonding and separate etching material, and the counterpart tooth had undergone the fifth generation bonding system. A pediatric dentist did exert 6 and 12-mounth follow ups.

In 38 of 40 patients, who completed 6-month follow-up, the success rate of seventh generation adhesive was 84.2% and in the fifth generation group it was 76.3%. At 12-month follow-up, 36 patients were referred and success rate of fifth generation bonding was 52% and it was 36% in seventh generation adhesive. According to fisher test, the difference between two groups was not statistically significant.

This study depicted that fissure sealant retention was equal after 6 and 12 months in both methods.