Two minimally invasive treatments used in New York City elementary schools successfully stopped the progression of most cavities within four years, according to NYU College of Dentistry.
The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, come from NYU’s CariedAway program, a school-based dental care program that studies nonsurgical methods for treating existing cavities.
According to NYU College of Dentistry, researchers compared two treatments: noninvasive restorative treatment (ART), which removes decay with a hand instrument and fills the area with a protective material, and silver diamine fluoride (SDF), a topical liquid that kills bacteria and helps remineralize the tooth surface.
During twice-yearly school visits, dental professionals applied either ART or SDF, depending on the school’s assigned treatment group. Each visit also included fluoride application.
According to NYU College of Dentistry, an early analysis of the program showed that a single treatment with one or more of these methods prevented about half of cavities from getting worse within two years. The latest data extended the treatment period to four years and examined the efficacy at the level of individual tooth surfaces.
“This study is the most powerful analysis of these different cavity prevention techniques because we looked at decay on every tooth surface and measured it over four years,” said Ryan Richard Ruff, PhD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology and health promotion at NYU College of Dentistry and principal investigator of CariedAway.
The study followed more than 1,600 children ages 5 to 13 and treated more than 10,000 cavities. According to NYU College of Dentistry, researchers found that SDF treatment stopped 62% of decayed surfaces from developing, while ART treatment stopped 55% of decay from developing.
“Providing ART or SDF in school can help avoid more invasive dental treatments and improve access to preventive care,” said Tamarinda J. Barry Godín, PhD, DDS, MPH, research scientist at NYU College of Dentistry and director of the CariedAway program.
The CariedAway program aims to address barriers to dental care by providing prevention and treatment services directly in schools. According to NYU College of Dentistry, American children miss about 34 million hours of school each year for emergency dental care, much of which is preventable.
The study was funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
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