Effect of sealant placement on occlusal caries progression
Handelman, S.L.
Clinical Preventive Dentistry 4(5): 11-16
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0163-9633 PMID: 6985276 Document Number: 415
To evaluate the influence of sealants on occlusal caries progression, a prospective 24-mo. study investigated the effect of time on the viability of bacteria in the carious lesion. Bacteriologic examination of 60 teeth, 1-2 wk and 1,2,4,6,12 and 24 mo. after sealant had been placed, compared with 29 teeth not sealed to serve as controls; a progressive reduction in the number of cultivable bacteria from infected dentin was demonstrated, with the major reduction occurring during the 1st 2 wk and additional gradual reduction thereafter. At the end of 2 yr there was a 2000-fold decrease in the recoverable bacteria from carious dentin of the sealed teeth compared with the unsealed teeth. Further study showed that the sealant polymerization method is apparently not a factor in the progressive decrease in viability of the microflora and that different sealants with comparable bonding and retention characteristics will produce approximately the same effects on the residual carious dentin. Evaluation of radiographs of teeth used in the bacteriologic study suggested that there was no progress of the carious lesions. The clinical implication is noteworthy: by virtually eliminating the nutritional source for bacteria in the infected dentin, the sealant altered the active lesion to the more favorable arrested lesion.
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