ART performance associate to quemistry agent to decay remotion

Objective: The goal of this study was to verify the performance of atraumatic restoration technique (ART) associated with a chemical agent to reverse decay.

Methods: After IRB approval of the protocol, we selected 60 teeth in children between 7 and 10 years old, from both genders, and randomly divided them into groups (n = 15 each). Teeth were restored with Maxion^R (FGM, Joinville, Brazil) and Meron (VOCO, Berlin, Germany) and were called G1Mx, G1Me, G2Mx, and G2Me. The exclusion criteria were: pulpal exposure, painful history, fistula presence, and cavities with more than one associated surface. The restorations were performed according to the manufacturers' instructions. In group 1, a papaine gel (Papacárie^R System, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) was used for 30 sec prior to decay reversal. After being cured, the materials were protected with Vaseline. After six months, the restorations were evaluated for clinical secondary caries, pain, fistula presence, and restoration integrity.

Results: After six months, neither group showed secondary caries, spontaneous pain, or fistula. In terms of restoration integrity, 8 restorations showed an increase in surface roughness, 2 for each ionomer per group. Three restorations were totally lost, one to G1Me and two to group 2 (one for each cement). Three others were partially lost, one to G1Mx, one to G1Me, and one to G2Mx. The p value (0.055) of the Kruskal-Wallace test demonstrated no difference between groups in all criteria evaluated, independent of the glass ionomer used.

Conclusion: The papaine gel did not affect the atraumatic restoration technique, demonstrating a facility to reverse decay, independent of the glass ionomer used.