RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: This study determined the potency of resin infiltrations and resin sealant in impeding microleakage on artificial white-spot lesions (AWL) by methylene blue penetration. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty AWL specimens were randomly separated into two groups for water storage for 24 hours (groups 1-4) and 20,000 cycles of thermocycling (TC) (groups 5-8). Each group was then separated into four subgroups (n = 10) based on the AWL surface treatments: (1) no Tx, (2) treated with resin infiltration (ICON, DMG, Hamburg, Germany), (3) treated with resin infiltration (Surface pre-reacted glass-ionomer (S-PRG) barrier coat, SHOFU, Kyoto, Japan), (4) treated with resin sealant (Clinpro sealant, 3M ESPE, Minnesota, United States). Nail varnish was covered to all samples, with the exception of a 4 × 4 mm2 patch on the buccal measurement region, which was subsequently submerged in a 2% methylene blue solution and cut into buccolingual sections. Stereomicroscope measurements were used to calculate methylene blue penetration scores. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The Kruskal-Wallis test and the Bonferroni post-hoc correction were performed to evaluate the data. RESULTS: Application of resin infiltrants and resin sealant reduced microleakage in AWL by methylene penetration both before and after thermal cycling. In addition, group 6 (ICON + TC) and group 7 (S-PRG + TC) had a significantly different value from group 8 (sealant + TC). CONCLUSION: Both the resin infiltration approach and the resin sealant seem to help seal AWL and might perhaps offer long-term defense against microleakage in AWL caused by methylene blue penetration. The greatest sealing and defense for microleakage in AWL were demonstrated by the resin infiltrations.