Replacement of dental restorations has been
the traditional treatment for restorations that
are defective. In this five-year randomized
clinical trial, restorations with localized marginal defects were treated with sealants.
Thirty-two patients (mean age, 26.8 years) with
126 Class I and Class II restorations with
defective margins (amalgam n=69 and resinbased composite n=57) were recruited. Treatment was seal with pit and fissure sealant on
localized marginal defects (group A: n=43) and
was compared with total restoration replacement (group B: n=40) and untreated restorations (group C: n=43) as negative and positive
controls. Restorations were assessed by two
examiners using the modified US Public
Health Service criteria, observing five clinical
parameters: marginal adaptation, roughness,
marginal stain, teeth sensitivity, and secondary caries at baseline and at five years after
treatment. At the five-year recall examination, 23 patients
with 90 restorations (71.4% recall rate) were
examined. A significant improvement was observed in the marginal adaptation of the restorations in group A compared with group B.
None of the treated group showed trends to
downgrade in any parameter. Tooth sensitivity
and secondary caries showed a low frequency
in all groups. No significant difference in
marginal adaptation of the restorations was
found between amalgam and resin-based composite restorations (p=0.191). This study demonstrated that marginal sealing of restorations
is a minimally invasive treatment that may be
used instead of the replacement of restorations
with localized marginal defects.