Clinical Performance of Zirconia Reinforced versus Conventional Viscous Glass Ionomer in Class I Cavities of Geriatric Patients: A 1-year Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: For the elderly population, efforts are made to simplify the restorative procedure while maintaining good clinical performance. Glass ionomer (GI) cements are showing signs to fulfill many of these qualities. With their new properties and ease of use, they can be developed further to become a useful group of materials to overcome the problems of elderly patients.

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical performance of zirconia-reinforced versus conventional viscous GI restorations in Class I cavities of geriatric patients.

Setting and design: The study design was in vivo randomized clinical trial, parallel-arms, allocation ratio: 1:1.

Subjects and methods: A total of 28 Class I carious lesions in 21 geriatric patients were restored randomly either by zirconomer-improved or Ketac Molar Quick Aplicap (n = 14) each. Restorations were evaluated for 1 year by modified USPHS criteria.

Statistical analysis: Data were analyzed with the Chi-square test and Cochran's Q-test. Survival rate was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test.

Results: Twenty-four restorations were evaluated in 19 patients with a recall rate of 85.7% at 12 months. Significant differences were found in marginal integrity and marginal discoloration within both restorative materials between different time intervals (P < 0.05). However, none of the materials were superior to another regarding all assessed criteria.

Conclusions: Both zirconia-reinforced GI and conventional highly viscous GI have acceptable clinical performance.