Sealing of proximal carious lesions with resin infiltrating: follow-up of 3 years of a randomized clinical trial

Resin infiltration technique of carious lesion has been claimed as a promising approach to fill the gap between non-invasive and operative treatment on the management of non-cavitated proximal lesions (NCPL). However, clinical studies are inconclusive about the effect of this treatment on the reduction NCPL progression since they were performed in a group of subjects whose caries activity was not controlled. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the efficacy of resin infiltration of NCPL over a 3-year period in a group of individuals who received treatment and control of carious activity in order to better clarify the role of lesion infiltration on the management of NCPL. Twenty-two caries-active subjects that possessed at least a pair of NCPL in posterior teeth were selected for this study totalizing 36 pairs of lesion radiographically classified from outer half of enamel to enamel-dentin junction. In a split-mouth design, lesions were randomly allocated to test treatment (resin infiltration) or placebo treatment. At 3-year follow-up, the studied lesions were radiographically analyzed and the radiolucency progression registered. Lesion progression was then determined by pair-wise comparison. Gingival bleeding index (GBI) was also assessed at the beginning of the study and at the follow-up. Lesion activity was determined at 3 years follow-up. Differences in number of progressing lesions between test and placebo- treated surfaces were compared using McNemar test. Seven-teen subjects (27 pairs of lesions) were followed-up (drop-out rate of 22.7%). No difference was found on subject’s median GBI between the baseline and at its follow-up...