Caries progression in non-cavitated fissures after infiltrant application: A 3-year follow-up of a randomized controlled clinical trial

Objectives: to evaluate the efficacy of a conservative treatment to prevent the progression of caries using an infiltrant on non-cavitated pit and fissures. material and methods: this controlled clinical trial selected 23 volunteers with clinically and radiographically non-cavitated occlusal caries among patients presenting a “rather low” to “very high” caries risk. eighty-six teeth were randomly divided into two experimental groups: teeth receiving a commercial pit-and-fissure sealant (alpha seal-dfl) and contralateral teeth receiving icon infiltrant (dmg). caries progression was monitored by clinical (laser fluorescence caries detection) and radiographic examination at 12-month intervals over a period of 3 years of monitored caries progression. probing the sealing materials to detect areas of retention was also used to evaluate marginal integrity. results: statistical analysis showed no difference in caries progression using laser fluorescence caries detection when both materials were compared,regardless of the evaluation times (p>0.05). no significance was observed when the marginal sealant integrity of both materials was compared,regardless of the evaluation time (p<0.05). marginal integrity significantly reduced after 1 year for both materials (p<0.05),but remained stable after 2 and 3 years of evaluation,compared with 1-year results (p>0.05). sem analysis exhibited a more homogeneous sealing for the infiltrant than obtained by the sealant. conclusions: the infiltrant was effective to prevent the caries progression in non-cavitated pit-and-fissures after 3 years of clinical evaluation,comparable with the conventional sealant. the infiltrant also presented better results in terms of caries progression at the 3-year evaluation time using the radiographic analysis. © 2017,faculdade de odontologia de bauru. all rights reserved.