COMPARISON OF MICROLEAKAGE IN SEALANT REPAIRED WITH DIFFERENT SURFACE TREATMENT

The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in surface treatment prior to repair influenced the seal of a resin fissure sealant placed on the occlusal surfaces of permanent molar teeth. One hundred and twenty extracted human molars were selected and a light curing sealant was placed on their occlusal surface following cleaning by prophylaxis and acid etching. The teeth were deliberately damaged, and then stored in artificial saliva for four weeks. Sixty teeth with the desired morphology of sealant failure were randomly divided into four groups where one group was treated with only etching agent, another by only air-abrasion, another by applying an etching agent followed by a bonding agent, and the last by air-abrasion followed by a bonding agent each. After sealant application, the samples were thermocycled and the degree of microleakage was determined. The results were as follows : 1. In the sealant/sealant interface group 2(0.22), 4(0.23) using air-abrasion showed a significantly lower microleakage score than group 1(0.38), 3(0.35) using an etching agent(p0.05) between groups 1, 2 and groups 3, 4. 2. In the sealant/tooth interface, group 3(0.20), 4(0.20) which used a bonding agent showed a significantly lower microleakage score than group 1(0.35), 2(0.40) (p0.05) between groups 1, 3 and groups 2, 4. 3. In SEM examination, while sealant surfaces treated with etching did not result in highly rough surfaces, those treated with air-abrasion did show rough surfaces.