EFFECT OF TOPICAL FLUORIDE APPLICATIONS ON THE MICROHARDNESS OF GLASS IONOMER BASED FISSURE SEALANTS

Aim: the aim of this study was to assess the effect of topical fluoride applications on the surface microhardness of different glass ionomer based fissure sealants. method: in this study different glass ionomer based fissure sealants were used (fuji triage, gcp glass seal, fuji vii ep). 72 disc shaped specimens (8.0x2.5 mm) which were prepared according to manufacturer’s instructions were photopolimerized with light source (valo, ultradent products inc, south jordan, ut, usa), after stored in distilled water at 37°c for 24 hour initial microhardness measurements were performed with vicker’s microhardness tester (shimadzu micro hardness tester hmv-2, shimadzu corporation, kyoto, japan). specimens were randomly assigned to 2 experimental groups according to surface treatment regimens consisting of 2% naf gel (sultan topex neutral ph gel, sultan dental products, usa) and 1.23%apf gel (sultan topex apf gel, sultan dental products, usa) and these groups were assigned to 3 experimental subgroups according to application types (1 minute gel application, 4 minute gel application, 4x4 minute gel application). after applications; specimens were rinsed with distilled water and microhardness measurements were repeated. statistical analysis were made with repeated measures anova and bonferroni correction α=0.05). result: it has been found that the types of applied agents, time of application and repeated applications reduce the hardness values of fissure sealant material, but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). conclusion: microhardness values of the different content fissure sealants used in the study were found not to be affected by topical fluoride applications.