Method:
1331 anterior teeth with caries in 114 children were included the study. The participants were enrolled and randomly distributed into two groups( experimental and control) . In the experimental group 38% silver diamine fluoride was applied and saline solution was used as control. Baseline dmfs and ICDAS scores were recorded. In addition, teeth with active caries were scored with “1” and inactive caries lesions were scored with “2”. All children received oral hygiene instructions at the beginning. Follow-up examinations were carried out every six months up to 18 months to assess whether the treated caries lesions had become arrested. The data were statistically analyzed using ANOVA , t- test,and LSD test at a significance level of p < 0.05.
Result:
In both groups dmfs scores were significantly higher when compared to baseline scores (p<0.05). “Restoration status” of the experimental group in 18 month was significantly lower when compared to baseline scores (p<0.05). In the control group no statistical difference was observed (p>0.05). No significant difference was found between experimental and control groups except 18 months . In both groups a significant increase was observed in “caries on smooth and free smooth surfaces” when compared to baseline (p<0.05). In the experimental group, baseline “total caries hardness” scores were significantly higher than follow-up scores (p<0.05) and at the 18 month, the inactive caries lesions were 60.63% of all the lesions.
Conclusion:
SDF was found to be effective in arresting cavitated lesions in anterior primary teeth.