Effect of saliva contamination on microleakage of three different pit and fissure sealants.

AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of saliva contamination and compare the microleakage of three different pit-and-fissure sealants namely, Helioseal F, Enamel Loc and Fuji VII. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty recently extracted sound third molars were randomly assigned to three groups for three different sealant materials (n=20). Each sealant group was then randomly divided into two as uncontaminated (n=10) and saliva contaminated (n=10) prior to sealant placement. The samples were thermocycled in water for 500 cycles between 5 and 55 degrees C with a dwell time of 30 s and immersed in 1% methylene-blue for 24 h. The samples were sectioned and scored on a 3 point rating scale using a light microscope. RESULTS: Among both contaminated and uncontaminated groups Helioseal F showed statistically significantly less microleakage compared to Enamel Loc and Fuji VII groups (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between Enamel Loc and Fuji VII in both absence and presence of saliva contamination (p>0.05). STATISTICS: The results were analysed using Kruskal Wallis test while study groups were compared with Mann-Whitney test for statistically significant differences at 5% significance level. CONCLUSION: Under both uncontaminated and saliva contaminated conditions, the light-cured resin-based pit-and-fissure sealant Helioseal F yielded lower microleakage scores compared to Enamel Loc and Fuji VII.