Triage Sealant Application Tutorial for Low Viscosity Glass Ionomer Cement Sealant

Watch how to apply Fuji Triage, a low viscosity glass ionomer cement sealant from GC America. This material is easy to place, even in young, apprehensive, and special needs patients. It is biocompatible, biomimetic, bioactive (releases and recharges with fluoride), and hydrophylic (moisture tolerant), making it a superior alternative to resin (plastic) based sealants which contain resin monomers and derivatives such as BPA and bisGMA. Systematic reviews have demonstrated that GIC sealants are equal to resin based sealants for caries prevention (cavities), however, a major advantage is that as the material smoothly wears over time, it leaves behind an enamel surface which is more aciduric (resistant to acid/withstands lower pH), and remains deep within the fissured grooves, vs. resin based sealants which chip and leak over time (an issues associated with decay).
Alirezaei et al. JADA 2018;
“Mickenautsch and Yengopal indicated that the risk of loss of complete retention of sealant materials was associated with the risk of developing caries occurrence for RBSs but not for GIC-based sealants. The explanation of this result was that small particles remained in the bottoms of fissures that acted as a fluoride reservoir and that the slow release of fluoride enhanced nearby enamel remineralization.”
“Despite the better retention performance of RBSs versus GIC-based sealants in this meta-analysis, the caries prevention effect was similar for both groups of materials. Some researchers have shown better caries prevention effects with RBSs, and others have shown better caries prevention effects with GIC-based sealants, but most show similar effects. These findings indicate that the caries prevention effect of GIC-based sealants is not associated with retention.”
“It seems that GIC-based sealants, with their lower technique sensitivity, good adherence, and fluoride-releasing properties, have an additive effect of being a sealant and fluoride provider for the prevention of occlusal caries. Therefore, GIC-based sealants may be a good alternative to RBSs specifically in community procedures when there is limited equipment, no chairside assistant for the dentist or dental hygienist, and a considerable number of children at high risk of developing caries. In an ideal situation of a dental office, the use of RBSs may be preferable because they provide the same caries prevention effect and better retention, which makes follow-up examinations easier for dental teams, except in situations in which ideal isolation is not possible for the RBSs."
“There was no difference between the percentage of caries development with use of GICs as fissure sealing material compared with that for the conventional RBSs, but the retention rate of conventional RBSs was much higher than that of the GICs.”
Use of a surface conditioner (polyacrylic acid) with the glass ionomer sealant increased the chance of a chelation reaction between the calcium of the enamel and polyacrylic acid in the glass ionomer matrix that established a more stable bonding surface