RESUMO
PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of a widely used (Delton Pit & Fissure Sealant - Light Cure Opaque, DENTSPLY Professional, York, PA) pit and fissure sealant material on bisphenol A (BPA) levels in blood and saliva, among both low and high-dose groups over time. METHODS: A convenience sample of 30 adults from the Old Dominion University population were randomly and evenly divided into 2 independent variable groups: a low-dose group (1 occlusal sealant application) and high-dose group (4 occlusal sealant applications). A 2 group, time series design was used to examine the presence and concentration of BPA in serum and saliva after sealant placement. Differences comparing low-dose and high-dose groups were examined 1 hour prior (baseline), 1 hour post, 3 hours post and 24 hours after sealant placement, as measured by a direct-competitive BPA Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA). Hypothesized outcomes were evaluated by applying a parametric, 2 way ANOVA for repeated measures technique to data on the 30 participants ranging in age from 18 to 40 years, and were of mixed gender and ethnicity. RESULTS: BPA was detected in the saliva of all participants prior to sealant placement and ranged from 0.07 to 6.00 ng/ml at baseline. Salivary BPA concentration levels peaked over a 3 hour period following sealant placement and returned to baseline levels within 24 hours. BPA was significantly elevated at all post-sealant placement time periods for both the low-dose (1 occlusal sealant application) and high-dose (4 occlusal sealant applications) groups with peak levels of 3.98 ng/ml and 9.08 ng/ml, respectively. The blood serum did not contain BPA at any point in this investigation. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to BPA from sources other than dental resins contributes to salivary baseline concentration levels and indicates environmental exposure and use of products containing BPA. Use of specific molecular formulations of dental sealant material determines the release of BPA, therefore, dental sealant materials should be reviewed independently when questioning the release of BPA from dental sealants. In addition, dosage amounts of the dental sealant material used in this study do not influence the serum concentration levels of BPA. Further research is needed to examine the cumulative estrogenic effects of BPA from dental sealants.