Comparison of three different preparation methods in the improvement of sealant retention

The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of three invasive fissure preparation methods in the retention of sealant on the surfaces of permanent molars. One hundred and eight extracted caries-free human molars were used in this study, which were divided into 3 groups according to the fissure preparation: laser, air abrasion and bur. In addition, each of these three groups was further divided into 2 additional groups to isolate those in which a bonding agent would be used from those in which a bonding agent would not be used. After the accomplishment of the different treatments samples from all the 6 experimental groups were submitted to two different bond strength tests: (i) shear bond strength test and (ii) tensile bond strength test. Bond strengths were determined by the dividing fracture load and a statistical test ANOVA was used to evaluate significant differences. The results showed that laser improved the sealant retention when compared with air abrasion preparation when the bonding agent was used. The use of bonding agent increased the sealant retention in all methods except for tensile bond strength when air abrasion was used as the preparation method