Effectiveness of Silver Diamine Fluoride and Sodium Fluoride Varnish in Preventing New Carious Lesion in Preschoolers: A Randomized Clinical Trial

INTRODUCTION: Dental caries is a site-specific, multifactorial chronic disease affected globally. The prevalence of dental caries is strongly associated with social and economic disadvantage, and also the susceptibility of children to dental caries. Dental caries prevention can be achieved with topical fluoride agents. Topical fluoride promotes the remineralization of early carious lesions and reduces the demineralization of healthy enamel. AIM: The aim of this randomized clinical trial was to compare the effectiveness of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) and sodium fluoride varnish (FV) in preventing new carious lesions in preschoolers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 285 children aged 3–6 years. Children were randomly allocated into three groups namely, group I—deionized distilled water (DIW), group II—sodium FV, and group III—SDF. The biannual application was performed at an interval of 6 months. New carious lesions were recorded using defs and International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS II) under LED magnifying loupes. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied and tabulated using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0 software. RESULT: There was a significant difference seen in the mean values of group III (SDF) when compared with group II (FV) and also between group III (SDF) and group I (DIW) when defs index was used. The mean score of ICDAS II after 12 months in group I (DIW) was −1.171, group II (FV) was −0.690, and group III (SDF) was −0.374. CONCLUSION: silver diamine fluoride (SDF) was found to be most effective in preventing dental caries and also it appears to be the most cost-saving fluoride therapy. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Jain A, Deshpande AN, Shah YS, et al. Effectiveness of Silver Diamine Fluoride and Sodium Fluoride Varnish in Preventing New Carious Lesion in Preschoolers: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2023;16(1):1-8.