Factors influencing the retention rate of resin based pit and fissure sealant among primary school children- A randomised clinical trial.

BACKGROUND

In modern dentistry, the focus is more on preventing caries than treating them, which helps preserve tooth structure. There is an approximately 50 % prevalence of caries on the occlusal surface in school children. Pits and fissures with irregularities and invasions are responsible for this. In dentistry, to overcome these problems, different sealant technique is introduced, for instance, the conventional method, using a bur, using air abrasion, etc. Therefore, this clinical trial was designed to evaluate the retention rate of sealant using different application techniques.

METHODOLOGY: The present Randomised clinical trial included 50 children aged 6-9 from a primary school children based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The contralateral 1st mandibular molar teeth were divided randomly before placing sealant with two different techniques.

RESULTS

The results obtained showed that there was a statistically highly significant difference in mean scores at the end of the 1st, 3rd, 9th, and 12th months of pit and fissure sealant application done with altered morphology without the use of bonding agent compared to altered morphology with bonding agent.

CONCLUSION

The present study showed that sealant retention was higher in the altered morphology without bonding agent group compared to the altered morphology with bonding agent.