Clinical Evaluation of Chemically Cured Conventional Glass Ionomer after Light Emitting Diode Radiant Heat Enhancement: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: Assessing the clinical efficiency of chemically cured conventional glass ionomer after light-emitting diode radiant heat enhancement using Federation Dentaire International (FDI) criteria for assessment of dental restorations, regarding both functional and biological properties immediately, after 6 months and 12 months.

Material and methods: Twenty-two healthy patients were selected where each patient had two oclusso- mesial cavities in upper or lower second permanent molar. Standardized oclusso- mesial cavities were prepared for all the selected teeth, for each patient the first tooth was restored with chemically cured conventional glass ionomer cements (GICs) without any enhancement (M1 group). Meanwhile, the second tooth was restored by the same material enhanced with radiant heat light emitting diode (LED) (M2 group). Functional and biological criteria of each restoration was clinically evaluated immediately after restoration (T0), six months later (T1), and after 12 months (T2) using Federation Dentaire International (FDI) criteria for assessment of dental restorations.

Results: Chi-squared and Wilcoxon's signed rank test revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between both groups for the tested properties at baseline and 6 months follow-up time. At 12 months of follow-up time, 55% of M1 group and 95% of M2 group were clinically successful with significant difference between them.

Conclusions: Chemically cured conventional GIC enhanced with LED radiant heat exhibited better clinical performance than the same material without enhancement at 12 months of follow-up time. Key words:Chemically cured glass ionomer cements (GICs), Radiant heat enhancement, Light emitting diode (LED), Randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT), Federation Dentaire International criteria for assessment of dental restorations (FDI criteria).