Objective: To compare the retention and superficial characteristics between a new resin-modified glass ionomer sealant and resin sealant. In addition, the teeth sealed were compared to partially erupted first molars (control group) without sealing in relation to the incidence of dental caries. Material and Methods: Initially, 31 children aged 6-8 years participated in this study. The study children showed caries history, but had at least two healthy first molars. A total of 114 teeth were randomly divided into three groups: Clinpro (n=36), Fluroshield (n=38), and control (n=40). The two sealants were applied under relative isolation after previous prophylaxis and enamel etching with phosphoric acid 35% (15s). Clinical evaluation was performed by two calibrated examiners. They evaluated the retention and surface characteristics of the occlusal surface. Results: Fluroshield® showed significantly greater retention than ClinproTM Varnish® XT (p=0.002). However, the performance analysis of the success and failure of retention presented no significant difference between the materials (p=0.141). Concerning to the surface characteristics, Fluroshield performed better than Clinpro after analyzing the marginal deterioration, marginal discoloration, and superficial discoloration (p<0.05). The surface texture of the materials under study was similar (p=0.071). Sealed groups (Clinpro=Fluroshield) showed similar performance in the prevention of dental caries, which was significantly lower than that of control group (p=0.001). Conclusion: Both sealants, Fluroshield® and Clinpro TM Varnish® XT were effective in preventing caries lesion within 6 months, although Fluroshield sealant showed better clinical retention.

Objective: To evaluate the ability of different periods of salivary exposure and two different removable appliances to rehardening initial erosive lesions. Material and Methods: This randomized, single blind in situ study was conducted with 2 crossover phases. The factors under study were: period of salivary exposure (15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 2 hours) and type of oral appliance (maxillary or mandibular). Two hundred enamel blocks were selected by initial surface hardness (SHi). Enamel blocks were demineralized in vitro (0.05M citric acid; pH2.5 for 15 seconds), surface hardness (SHd) was remeasured and 160 blocks were selected and randomized among groups. Thus, there were 2 blocks per period of salivary exposure in each type of oral appliance for each one of the 10 volunteers. In each phase, one of the removable appliances was tested. The response variable was percentage of surface hardness recovery (%SHR=[(SHf-SHd)/SHi)]x100). Two-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test were applied adopting 5% of significance. Results: No difference was found among oral appliances on enamel rehardening (p>0.01). Salivary exposure of 2 hours promoted similar enamel rehardening when compared to 1 hour (p>0.05), which showed similar rehardening to 30 min. All mentioned period of salivary exposure promoted superior rehardening than 15 min (p>0.01). Conclusion: The salivary time exposure between erosive attacks might be 2 hours to achieve a feasible maximum rehardening. In addition, both maxillary and the mandibular appliance have presented a similar rehardening ability.

Objective: To evaluate changes in oral health-related behavior of infants following preventive program of continuing education directed to their parents. Material and Methods: We analyzed 53 dental files of infants aged up to 36 months, who participated in the Prevention and Education Program of the Infants Clinic, School of Dentistry of Bauru (USP), and attended at least 2 visits with a maximum of 4 missing appointments. Initially an educational lecture was conducted, pointing issues related to diet and oral hygiene. At the following visit, the professional filled in a form with questions about diet and hygiene performed at home. The following information was extracted from dental files: reason of the first visit, age, number of teeth, number of visits, missing appointments, and dietary and oral hygiene risk factors. The data were tabulated and analyzed using descriptive statistics comparing the information obtained from the first visit to that of the last one. Results: The reason for the first visit was dental caries prevention (88.68%) followed by dental trauma (7.55%), and needed of curative treatment (3.77%). The mean age of the sample was 14.85 months, the tooth number mean was 12.64 at first visit, the mean number of visits was 7 and the mean missing appointments was 0.83. The percentage of infants with inadequate diet and hygiene habits was 88.68% and 62.26%, and only 12.762% and 57.57% of these have changed their habits, respectively. Conclusion: After the preventive program of continuing education, the dietary habits showed were more difficult to change in relation to hygiene ones.

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