Caries Preventive Effect and Retention of Moisture Tolerant Resin Based and Glass Ionomer Cement Sealants: A Systematic Review

The traditional preventive method for treating decay often entails resin-based sealants, topical fluoride application and Glass Ionomer based sealants (GIC sealants). At present, topical fluoride application is less effective when compared with the pit and fissure sealant, as resin sealants were mentioned to be efficient in preventing occlusal cavities in both primary and permanent teeth by formation of resin tags. However, moisture contamination is a more common problem encountered with hydrophobic sealants, but not with GIC sealants, as they are not as moisture sensitive as hydrophobic resins. Hence, hydrophilic sealants were developed. Therefore, this current systematic review evaluated the current literature on the efficacy of caries prevention and retention between moisture-tolerant resin and GIC -based sealants among children and adolescents aged 6-18 years. Clinical trials assessing the effectiveness of Moisture Tolerant resin and GIC based sealant among 6-18 years of age groups, the follow-up duration exceedingly over 6 months were added. Two reviewers (J;JJ) extracted data data separately from the included publications, which they then integrated. Cochrane risk of assessment tool {RoB2} was used to evaluate the study's quality. Following six and twelve months, there was statistical significance in the caries prevention and retention of moisture tolerant resin-based sealants over GIC based sealants. The retention of moisture-tolerant sealants was statistically significant in all five of the selected experiments when compared to GIC sealants, showing the effectiveness of moisture-tolerant sealants in terms of retention.