Adhesion of three types of fissure sealant in saliva-contaminated and noncontaminated conditions: an in vitro study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the proportion of microleakage (PM), shear bond strength (SBS), and the fissure sealant (FS) interface by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in three kinds of FS when the enamel surfaces were contaminated with saliva. METHODS: 198 sound third molar teeth were randomly divided into three pretreatment condition groups (n = 66): dry, saliva contamination removed by cotton pellet, or saliva removed by air-drying. A resin-based FS (Clinpro), amorphous calcium phosphate-containing FS (Aegis(R)), or glass ionomer-based FS (Fuji Triage(R)) was applied on the treated enamel, and PM and SBS were assessed. Two specimens from each group were observed with SEM. p values < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Glass ionomer-based FS showed the highest PM in all three surface conditions (p values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant). No significant difference in PM was observed between resin-based FS and amorphous calcium phosphate-containing FS (p > 0.05). Resin-based FS showed significantly greater SBS in all three surface conditions compared to glass ionomer-based FS. SEM observations showed that saliva contamination led to gaps at the enamel-sealant interface. CONCLUSION: Neither cotton pellet-drying nor air-drying effectively removed saliva from the contaminated enamel surface. Glass ionomer-based FS showed the highest PM and the lowest SBS in contaminated and noncontaminated conditions. The highest SBS was obtained with resin-based FS.