Caries
Sheetal Manchanda, BDS
PhD student
University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong
Edmond, Oklahoma, United States
Pei Liu, PhD
University of Hong Kong
Divesh Sardana, MDS, MBA, MPH, PhD (he/him/his)
Clinical Assistant Professor
Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Peng Simin, PhD
University of Hong Kong
Edward CM Lo, PhD
University of Hong Kong
Cynthia KY Yiu, PhD
Professor
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of two 5% sodium fluoride (NaF) varnishes containing casein phosphopeptide amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP) or tricalcium phosphate (TCP) to the conventional 5% NaF varnish in preventing early childhood caries (ECC) in high caries-risk preschool children.
Methods: A double-blinded, randomized controlled trial recruited healthy 3-4 years old children having at least one carious lesion (pre-cavitated or cavitated) after obtaining written informed consent and a complete questionnaire from parents. Children were randomly assigned to one of the 3 groups: Control group (N=196): 5% NaF varnish (Duraphat) or the two test groups: 5% NaF with TCP (Clinpro White) (N=193) and 5% NaF varnish with CPP-ACP (MI Varnish) (N=193) to receive a quarterly application over the 24-month follow-up. The incidence and increment of both cavitated and non-cavitated carious lesions were measured using Independent-Samples Kruskal-Wallis Test. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model was used to analyse the association between caries increment and selected independent variables at P < .05.
Results: Among 582 children recruited from 25 kindergartens, 381 completed the study at 24 months. No significant difference was found for the incidence and increment of cavitated and non-cavitated carious lesions among the 3 intervention groups. No significant association was found between the number of fluoride applications and caries increment. The final ZINB model consisting of zero-inflated and negative-binomial parts found no variable significantly associated with caries increment (P>.05).
Conclusion: The two calcium- and phosphate-containing NaF varnishes are equally effective as the conventional NaF varnish in preventing ECC in high-risk preschool children.