A comparative evaluation of micro shear bond strength and microleakage between the resin-modified glass ionomer cement and residual dentin following excavation of carious dentin using Carie CareTM and conventional caries removal in primary teeth: an in vitro study [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: The bond between the dentin and restorative material contributes to the success of the restoration. Structural changes associated with prepared dentin may influence the bonding of restorative materials. The present study evaluates the bond between the resin-modified glass ionomer cement (RMGIC) and residual dentin following excavation of carious dentin using Carie CareTM and conventional caries removal in primary teeth. Methods: 52 primary teeth with dentinal caries were randomly grouped into group I, where caries removal was done using the conventional method, and group II which used Carie CareTM. All the teeth were restored using RMGIC. Micro shear bond strength between the residual dentin and the cement was tested using universal testing machine and the dye penetration method was used for microleakage testing. Independent t-test was performed for intergroup comparison. Pearson chi-square test was carried out to evaluate the microleakage patterns in the enamel and dentin. Results: The mean micro-shear bond strength of group I was 6.03±1.6 and that of group II was 8.54±2.92; this difference was statistically significant with a p-value of 0.012. Microleakage was higher in the test group (1.38±0.51) than the control group (0.77±0.6) and was significant with a p-value of .036. Conclusions: Papain-based chemomechanical agent Carie CareTM can be used as an alternative method to conventional caries removal. However, further studies need to explore methods to improve the marginal sealing capacity of RMGIC to the residual dentin after chemomechanical caries removal

Correlation of dental age, skeletal age, and chronological age among children aged 9-14 years: A retrospective study

Background: Growth can be one of the most uncertain variations, but understanding the same is very important for diagnosis and treatment planning. Skeletal age and dental age have been used to determine a child′s developmental age. Several researchers have evaluated the association between dental and skeletal maturity with chronologic age on different population. The purpose of the present study was to find out whether dental age estimation can be replaced for skeletal age estimation in the Dakshina Kannada population. Methods: A total of 104 samples equally distributed among both genders in the age group of 9-14 years were selected. Skeletal age was estimated using hand-wrist radiographs and Fishman′s skeletal maturation index and dental age was measured using Demirjian′s method. Results: Spearman′s rank-order correlation coefficients were used to measure the association between the skeletal maturity and dental maturity. The mean ages of male and female samples were determined as 11.89 ± 1.867 years and 12.21 ± 1.473 years, respectively. Chronological age was found to be positively correlated to dental age and skeletal age and found to be statistically significant (P < 0.01). The correlation between dental age and skeletal age was also found to be statistically significant with P < 0.001 and correlation coefficient of 0.683 and 0.704 for males and females. Conclusion: The present study showed a strong relation between the developmental ages in mixed dentition population; hence, dental age can be considered as a replacement in the study population