Purpose: To evaluate the progression of enamel demineralisation around fissure sealants using cross-polarisation optical coherence tomography (CP-OCT).
Materials and Methods: Three fissure sealants; Fuji Triage (FJ, GC), Beautisealant (BT, Shofu) and Helioseal resin sealant (HL, Ivoclar Vivadent) were placed in cavities (3 × 0.5 × 1 mm) prepared in bovine enamel blocks (n = 5). After 7-day artificial saliva incubation, specimens were subjected to demineralisation for 4 weeks (pH 4.5). CP-OCT scans (Santec) were acquired for each specimen after 1, 2 and 4 weeks of demineralisation and lesions were quantitatively measured to analyse lesion progression.
Results: Repeated-measures ANOVA demonstrated that lesion size was statistically significantly affected by demineralisation period, fissure sealant type, and their interaction (P < 0.001). At 4 weeks, the highest mean value of lesion size was observed in HL group while FJ group showed the lowest. The rate of lesion progression was slower in FJ and statistically significantly different from BT (P < 0.05), which in turn was statistically significantly different than HL (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Fissure sealants that actively release ions are capable of improving the acid resistance of adjacent enamel. Beautisealant showed increased demineralisation inhibition compared to conventional resin sealant, but less than that provided by glass-ionomer sealant.
Keywords: enamel, fissure sealant, fluoride, optical coherence tomography, tooth demineralisation
