RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY
Figure 5 Distribution of restorations at 48 months, in dependence of the restored tooth number
Figure 6 General Success rate (GSR, Frencken’s Code ≤ 3) and General Integrity Rate (GIR, Frencken’s
Code = 0) for all restorations at the different follow-up times
belonging to Black’s Class I, II or V were enrolled
for this clinical trial. Patients were treated according
to the Helsinki declaration regarding clinical trials.
The inclusion and exclusion criteria are listed in
Table 1.
A total of four dentists (more than 5 years dental
clinical experience in restorative dentistry after
graduation) were selected as operators. They
were first instructed on the correct use of tested
restorative material and the trial protocol.
The restorative material was a high-viscosity
glassionomer cement, coated with a light-curable
acrylic resin used as protective and reinforcing
agent (Equia Fil® and Equia Coat®, both from GC
Europe NV, Belgium).
The protocol used for performing restorations was
the following, as described in Figures 1-4:
1. Placement of the dental dam (Fig. 2), whenever
possible and in any case when old amalgam fillings
removal was required. The use or not of dental
dam has been recorded for statistical analysis.
2. Preparation of the cavity, without the execution
of retentive walls, bevels, notches, or removing
healthy tooth tissue. The tooth preparation for the
use of glassionomer cements was made with the
same criteria normally used for resin composites
12
(Fig. 2).
3. According to the manufacturer’s instructions,
describing it as “not mandatory”, and to simplify
the procedures, the use of dentin conditioner was
excluded. Capsules were prepared and mixed for
10 seconds, then the material was directly applied
into the prepared cavity in a sufficient quantity.
Where necessary the material was compacted
with a manual condenser. A total of 3 minutewaiting time was allowed after mixing for
complete hardening of the material (Fig.3).
4. The finishing process was performed with
the use of hand and rotary instruments in three
steps: a) coarse diamond burs; b) Brownie
polisher (Shofu, Kyoto, Japan); c) Greenie
polisher (Shofu). All burs and polishers were
used under water irrigation to avoid overdrying
the material.
5. The occlusal points of contact were checked.
6. A final layer of the coating agent was applied
on all the surfaces of the restoration, then it was
light-cured for 20 s at 800mW/cm2 using a portable
hand-held light curing unit (Fig. 4).
7. Relieve the patient, taking care that he does not
bite hard on the new restoration for the first few
hours.
STOMA.EDUJ (2015) 2 (1)