Performance of Brazilian and imported glass ionomer cements used in Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) regarding microleakage in primary molars

With the aim of assessing the performance of Brazilian and imported glass ionomer cements (GIC) with regard to microleakage, 40 primary molars received two standard class II cavity preparations with margins in enamel. Twenty cavities were filled with Brazilian materials (Vidrion R and Vidrion R(Caps)) and the other 20 cavities were filled with imported materials (Fuji IX and Fuji IX(GPFast) capsule). All fillings were performed by a single operator according to the manufacturer's instructions. Teeth were immersed in 0.5% methylene blue and half-sectioned. Three independent calibrated examiners assessed microleakage using scores (0-3). Data were submitted to the Kruskal-Wallis statistical test and Wilcoxon analysis. High microleakage indexes were verified for all ionomer cements: 59.5% of the samples restored with Vidrion R or Vidrion R(Caps) and 83.4% of the samples restored with Fuji IX or Fuji IX(GPFast) capsule obtained the maximum score (3). The Brazilian ionomer cements presented less microleakage than imported cements, although this difference was only significant (p=0.003) among the encapsulated materials.