title: Effectiveness of fissure sealant 3 years after application.
abstract: Findings 3 years after the application of a fissure sealant revealed that of the 166 sealed permanent first molars, 7.8% of the sealants were missing or partly missing, 14.5% were in fair condition, and 77.8% had remained in good condition. During the 3-year test period, 7.8% of the sealed permanent molars had become carious, while 63.3% of the respective control teeth had decayed. The teeth which had sealants in good condition showed no caries, whereas 92.3% of the teeth which had sealants missing or partly missing showed carious fissures. The net gain in the study was 104, and the percentage effectiveness of the method was 88.1%. The treatment effect was found to be very significant when analyzed on the basis of homologous paired test-control teeth (P less than 0.001). The sealing of pits and fissures was found to have a positive treatment effect on 60.2% of the subjects when evaluated on an individual basis (0.1 less than P less than 0.05).
mesh_terms: D000179:Acrylates; D002648:Child; D004245:DMF Index; D003764:Dental Materials / Q000592:standards*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008689:Methacrylates; D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants / Q000592:standards*
chemical_list: D000179:Acrylates; D003764:Dental Materials; D008689:Methacrylates; D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants