Postoperative thermal sensitivity reduction after amalgam fillings; A Clinical evaluation and presentation of a new method

Prepared cavities are usually treated with liners prior to amalgam placement. Light cured glass ionomer (RMGI) have been widely used for this purpose. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of RMGI on decreasing postoperative sensitivity with a new method of applying self etch bonding and glass ionomer simultaneously. In a blind randomized clinical trial study, A total of 36 patients with 2 deep caries in their posterior teeth (cavities with less than 2 mm distance from pulp in radiography) were included. Diagnostic tests (cold–heat, percussion, electric pulp test) were performed for each tooth prior to final restoration. After cavity preparation, one tooth was treated by light cured glass ionomer, the next one with SE bond and glass ionomer randomly, followed by amalgam restoration. Diagnostic tests were performed three days, thirty days and three months after amalgam restoration. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software version 11.5 as well as Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. In second follow up, the sensitivity to cold was significantly less than the conventional method (P<0.05) in our suggested compound method. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups when using the other vitality tests. Using SE bond and light cured glass ionomer simultaneously was an effective new method of decreasing the postoperative sensitivity in short term, (1 month), although, there was no difference between the two groups in the long term.