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Retention loss of resin based fissure sealants - a valid predictor for clinical outcome?
Steffen Mickenautsch1, Veerasamy Yengopal
1SYSTEM Initiative/Department of Community Dentistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand - 7 York Rd., Parktown/Johannesburg 2193, South Africa.
Purpose:
The null-hypothesis that retention loss of resin fissure sealants predicts caries manifestation no more accurately than random values was tested.
Methods:
Systematic reviews were checked and electronic databases searched for clinical trials. Trials reporting on the retention of resin sealants and caries occurrence in permanent molar teeth, with minimum 24-month follow-up period, were included. Extracted data: number of sealed teeth, number of teeth without completely retained sealants, number of sealed teeth with caries. The number of teeth with complete sealant retention and absence of carious lesions/cavities was calculated; the predictive outcomes: true/false positive; false/true negative were established. Random values were generated as control-data. Diagnostic Odds ratios (DOR) were computed and tested for statistical difference. Summary Receiver Operating Characteristic curves were plotted.
Results:
95 trials were found. Median DOR values were 1.21 and 0.28 for test- and control data, respectively. Wilcoxon test (z = 0.56; p = 0.58) and Sign test (z = 1.38; p = 0.17) results were statistically non-significant. The null-hypothesis was not rejected.
Conclusions:
Predictions based on the retention loss of resin sealants, regarding caries manifestation, was no more accurate than random guesses. Sealant retention loss appears not to be a valid predictor for clinical outcome.
