Efficacy of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) and Fluoride Varnish in Arresting and Preventing Dental Caries in Primary School Children: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic infectious disease found in children worldwide and if left untreated, is rapidly progress. Severe tooth decay in children is not only affect child's health and school performance, but also has impact on the family well-being. Oral rehabilitation in children requires time, resources and effort of dental specialists, the child and parents. Caries is a destructive condition of organic and inorganic components of the tooth structures but reversible and most importantly, preventable. Topical fluoride therapy, delivered by dentists has been effectively used to speed up the repair process as well as to strengthen the surface of intact tooth structure. Topical fluoride is available in various preparations. Regular application of sodium fluoride varnish is every three months, by far, considered as effective method in preventing new caries, particularly in the high-risk children. It has the advantage of containing therapeutic concentration of fluoride and ability to flow over and stick to the tooth surface. Whereas silver ion and relatively higher fluoride concentration in Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) has been shown to be the most effective in harden the decay, stop the caries progress and eliminate pathogenic bacteria. It can be hypothesize that when use in combination in school children, both reagents might have synergistic effect on arresting existing caries as well as preventing new caries.