Caries
Virtue E. Omere, DDS
Resident
NYU Langone Hospitals
NYU Lutheran Dental Medicine, Brooklyn, NY
ENFIELD, Connecticut, United States
Raffi Miller, DMD
Associate Program Director
NYU Langone- Holyoke Health Center
Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States
Daniel J. Kane, DMD, MA
Program Director
NYU Langone Hospitals
Brooklyn, New York, United States
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of preventing the growth of dental caries using silver diamine fluoride (SDF) on patients with interproximal caries (dental caries between teeth).
Method: Chart review of patients at the Holyoke Health Center Pediatric Dentistry Department who received at least 2 applications of SDF treatment and who presented for follow-up appointments at least 12 months after the second SDF application was done. A total of 270 carious lesions were reviewed to determine the caries arresting effect of SDF.
Results: Of the 270 carious lesions reviewed, 100 were in permanent teeth and 170 were in primary teeth. Of the 100 permanent teeth lesions, 76 (76%) were arrested and needed no treatment. Of the 170 primary teeth lesions, 69 (41%) were arrested and needed no treatment.
There is a significant difference between primary and permanent teeth P < .001, indicating that SDF was more effective in arresting caries in the interproximal surfaces of permanent teeth than in primary teeth.
Conclusion: The result suggests that more carious lesions were arrested in the permanent teeth than in primary teeth.