Abstract
Treatment of dental caries in children still remains challenging due to lack of cooperation with conventional treatment modalities. Recently, the use of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) has proved useful in addressing this challenge. Aim: This clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) in arresting caries in children in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: This was a phase III balanced randomized controlled school based interventional study on 240 children. The study group was treated with SDF while GIC was used in the control group. Follow up visits in 2 weeks, 1 month, and 3 months were carried out to assess the treatment outcome. Inferential statistics with the use of Pearson Chi-square test and Independent Student t-test were used at 5% level of significance. Results: There was significant relationship between SDF and caries arrest in 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months’ assessment period (p = 0.001). The control group showed continuous decline (71.7%, 54.3% and 50.9%) in restorative success from 2 weeks to 3 months respectively. The mean ± SD and Confidence Interval (CI) of arrested caries in the SDF group were 113± 1.24 and 113.1 – 113.5 respectively. In the control group the mean ± SD and CI of restorative success were 69.3±11.8 and 67.2 – 71.4. The effect size was 5.24. Conclusion: The result of the study showed that SDF was effective in arresting caries in children without any harm and there was statistically significant difference in the use of 38% SDF in arresting caries in children.
Highlights
According to the Global Burden of Disease Study, an estimated 3.8 billion people are affected by dental caries1
A total of 240 school children aged 4 – 10 years participated in the study
The second primary molars constituted the highest percentage (57.1%) of teeth used while the central incisors were least (0.4%)
Summary
According to the Global Burden of Disease Study, an estimated 3.8 billion people are affected by dental caries. Adeniyi et al. reported 14.8% prevalence of dental caries among children aged 5 – 10 years in Lagos, Nigeria. Though this figure is still within the WHO Millennium Development Goals target for dental caries, its impacts on children’s health cannot be over emphasized as it is estimated to be the most prevalent chronic childhood disease worldwide. Though this figure is still within the WHO Millennium Development Goals target for dental caries, its impacts on children’s health cannot be over emphasized as it is estimated to be the most prevalent chronic childhood disease worldwide5 These impacts include pain and discomfort, difficulty in masticating, sleep and speech disturbance, poor self-esteem and social isolation among others. With the recent change from the surgical model, which places emphasis on restorative treatment, to a medical model which focuses on disease prevention and conservation of tooth structure, caries management in the present decade is fast becoming more patient friendly, effective and efficient
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