Clinical performance of glass ionomer cement in atraumatic restorative treatment: a literature review

Abstract

Objective: this study aimed to review of the literature regarding the clinical performance of glass ionomer cements (GIC) used in atraumatic restorative treatment (ART). Material and Methods: a search was undertaken using the databases of the Virtual Health Library of Dentistry, Medline, Pubmed, Science Direct and Cochrane Library, using keywords “Glass Ionomer Cements”, “Dental Atraumatic Restorative Treatment”, and “Survival Analysis”. 25 articles published in the last ten years in English or in Portuguese fulfilled the predetermined inclusion criteria. Results: most of the studies applied the ART approach in children (68%), in the primary dentition (60%) and in single and multiple surfaces (44%), simultaneously. The high-viscosity GIC was the most used type and Fuji IX and Ketac Molar were the most studied brands in the ART technique. The majority of studies followed the clinical performance of the restorations in the period of 12 (36%) and 24 months (32%). Overall, survival rates of restorations ranged from 57.5% to 98% for single surface and from 24.4% to 97.8% for multiple surfaces. Conclusion: the association between GIC and the ART approach demonstrates a feasible alternative to treat caries in primary and permanent dentition. The GIC presents superior long-term performance for ingle surface ART restorations compared to multiple surfaces ART restorations. This approach proved to be reliable and effective when compared to the conventional restorative technique. The marginal defect and the partial or complete material loss were identified as the main causes of failure.

Keywords

• cimentos de ionômeros de vidro
• tratamento dentário restaurador sem trauma
• análise de sobrevida.