The use of a bleach-etch-seal' deproteinization technique on MIH affected enamel

International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry 2012; 22: 427434 Aims. To ascertain whether deproteinization pretreatment of molar-incisor hypomineralization (MIH) enamel affects resin sealant infiltration. Design. Thirty one extracted MIH teeth were divided into three sections and randomly allocated into the Control (etch and FS), Treatment 1 (5% NaOCl, etched and fissure sealed), and Treatment 2 (5% NaOCl and fissure sealed with no etch) groups. Two hundred seventy nine sealant tag/enamel grade observations were recorded by scanning electron microscopy. Results. Control and Treatment 1 were similar in their outcomes, and Treatment 2 was markedly different. There was no statistical evidence to suggest that there was any difference between Treatment 1 and the Control Treatment (95% CI, 0.52, 1.51; P = 0.6). There was a marked difference between Treatment 2 and the Control Treatment (95% CI, 0.07, 0.25; P < 0.001). All treatments also demonstrated a high-predicted probability of obtaining poor sealant tags (Control = 47%, Treatment 1 = 49%, and Treatment 2 = 40%). Conclusions. The findings suggest that there was no significant difference in the tag quality between the conventional technique (Control) and the bleach-etch-seal technique (Treatment 1). There was no benefit in pre-treating with NaOCl alone (without etch) before sealing. This research also showed that there was a high-predicted probability of obtaining poor sealant tags in MIH enamel, regardless of which of the three treatments was used.