Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of pit and fissure irrigation. using the GK-101 solution and the originally designed scratch point prior to application of sealant for removing the contents from the incipient carious pit and fissure of young permanent teeth.
Forty-four human premolars stored in the freezer immediately after extraction were divided into the experimental group (22 teeth) and the control group (22 teeth). The teeth of the former group were irrigated using the GK-101 solution and the scratch point, and those of the latter group were irrigated with the conventional method.
At first, the longitudinal ground sections were prepared buccolingually from the fissure area of nine teeth each of the both groups, and stained with acid red for examination by light microscopy to evaluate the effect of the GK-101 irrigation.
Topography of the fissures was classified to the shallow, wide, V-shaped or U-shaped fissures considered to be easy to clean, and the deep narrow club shaped fissures considered to be difficult to clean with the conventional method. The V- or U-shaped fissure, having stained remnants of the fissure contents, was designated as irrigation negative, and that having no remnants was designated as positive. The club shaped fissure from which the contents were removed down to their undercut area was also designated as positive, that having the contents up to the narrowest constriction was designated as questionable, and that having contents remaining over the constriction area was designated as negative.
Subsequently, five teeth each of both groups to which the sealant was applied, were sliced into ground sections to evaluate the degree of impregnation of the sealant into the pit and fissure. They were also classified by the shape of the fissure, and the same criteria were used for the evaluation.
For the third experiment, eight paired first premolars obtained form the same individuals were used for examination of the tag formation of the sealant by means of scanning electron microscopy. One of each pair of the experimental group was irrigated using the GK-101 solution and scratch point. The remaining teeth were divided into two groups, which were control group I and control group II. The teeth of control group I (4 teeth) were conventionally irrigated using brush corn, and those of control group II (4 teeth) were irrigated using distilled water and scratch point. They were, then all treated with sealant, and exposed to 10%nitric acid solution to prepare resin replicas showing the inner surface of the applied sealant for the SEM exanination.
