Effectiveness and Parental Perception of Silver Diamine Fluoride toward Treatment of Dental Caries in Primary Teeth

Abstract

A bstract Aim Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is taken into account as one among the effective measures for caries arrest and prevention in youngsters, due to the fact it proffers marginally invasive but cost-effective alternative to time-commemorated restorative caries control. The study was carried out to appraise the effectiveness of SDF (38%) in arresting active carious lesions and to gauge parental perception toward the treatment of cavities with SDF in the primary teeth. Materials and methods A total of 36 children in the age range 2–10 years, having active caries lésions, based on ICDAS criteria, in primary teeth were selected following the baseline examination. After four dropouts and refusal by two patients, 30 patients were treated with 1–2 topical applications of SDF (38%). Lesions were reassessed at 1 week and 3 months taking into account to assess the color and amend inconsistency (soft/hard). Parents have been mentioned regarding features of pain or infection and have been surveyed with regard to subjective feelings regarding SDF. Results Quantitative variables have been subjected to the Chi-square test. All the 30 participants within the present study at baseline were reported to possess active caries lesion. About 80% of carious lesions were found to be arrested at first recall and 93.3% after 3 months. No occurrence of pain or infection was documented. Parental perception for simple application, taste, and esthetics became statistically significant. Conclusion: Study outcomes endorse SDF to be effective in preventing active carious lesions in deciduous dentition in youngsters, and treatment outcomes were affirmative by the parents. Clinical significance SDF has been a possible management option for a noninvasive remedy to inhibit active carious lesions in deciduous dentition without causing any psychological trauma to children. How to cite this article Shrivastava U, Barjatya K, AK BB, et al. Effectiveness and Parental Perception of Silver Diamine Fluoride toward Treatment of Dental Caries in Primary Teeth. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2021;14(6):790–794.

Parental knowledge, awareness and acceptance of silver diamine treatment among patients from Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

“…Majority of participants didn’t accepted SDF treatment as 58.1% of participant’s child experienced oro-mucosal lesions as they are aware of other treatment options provided in primary health care, general hospitals, or private institutions that give better aesthetic result. Although SDF has a drawback of staining teeth and metallic taste, parents show a positive attitude towards the use of SDF which is comparable to a study done by Srivastava U et al [ 16 ]. The reason for choosing SDF may be the parent's awareness of anaesthetic agents being associated with potential risk to patient's overall health with some reports of morbidity and mortality [ 17 - 18 ].…”

“…Most of these studies had been conducted in developed countries except one. [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ] Therefore we conducted an exploratory questionnaire survey in a dental hospital of Modinagar to assess the parental knowledge, awareness and acceptance of SDF as a caries management method for their child. The association of parents' acceptability with factors such as the location of teeth, child's behaviour, age, gender or socioeconomic status was assessed.…”

Silver-modified atraumatic restorative technique (SMART) in early childhood caries

“…Some studies on the parents' perception of the application of SDF show that most agreed that application is an easy, painless procedure with acceptable coloration and taste. Most parents are willing to sacrifice esthetics in favor of using a minimally invasive approach with their children (8,15,16). However, before it is applied it is important to obtain authorization through an informed consent signed by the parents or tutors explaining the side effects associated with it with explanatory images.…”

The Caries-Arrest Effectiveness of Silver Diamine Fluoride Treatment with Different Post-Treatment Instructions in Preschool Children: A Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…We searched the published clinical trials on SDF therapy in PubMed. Some publications mention that children refrained from eating and drinking for 30 min [ 13 , 16 ] or 60 min [ 17 , 18 ] after SDF therapy. Some studies do not mention the post-treatment instructions for SDF treatment [ 19 , 20 ], whereas a few studies state that the SDF-treated lesions were rinsed immediately [ 21 , 22 ].…”