Effect of Silver Diamine Fluoride on Caries Arrest and Prevention: The CariedAway School-Based Randomized Clinical Trial

IMPORTANCE: Dental caries is the most common global childhood disease. To control caries, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends school-based caries prevention, and the World Health Organization lists glass ionomer cement and silver diamine fluoride as essential medicines for oral disease. OBJECTIVE: To determine the noninferiority of silver diamine fluoride with fluoride varnish vs traditional glass ionomer sealants with fluoride varnish after 2 years when provided to children via a school-based health care program. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The CariedAway study is an ongoing single-blind, cluster randomized, noninferiority trial conducted between February 1, 2019, and June 1, 2023, among 2998 children in 47 New York City primary schools. Children aged 5 to 13 years of any race and ethnicity were recruited from block-randomized schools. Inclusion criteria for schools were a student population of at least 50% Hispanic or Latino or Latina ethnicity and/or Black race and at least 80% of students receiving free or reduced-cost lunch. Statistical analysis is reported through March 2022. INTERVENTIONS: Children received a single application of silver diamine fluoride with fluoride varnish or an active comparator of glass ionomer sealants and atraumatic restorations with fluoride varnish. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcomes were caries arrest and incidence after a 2-year follow-up, assessed using mixed-effects multilevel models and clustered 2-sample proportion tests. The noninferiority margin was 10%. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed using multiple imputation. RESULTS: A total of 2998 children (1566 girls [52.2%]; mean [SD] age at baseline, 6.6 [1.2] years; 1397 Hispanic or Latino or Latina children [46.6%]; 874 [29.2%] with untreated dental caries) were recruited and treated from September 16, 2019, to March 12, 2020. Follow-up observations were completed for 1398 children from June 7, 2021, to March 2, 2022. The mean (SE) proportion of children with arrested caries was 0.56 (0.04) after experimental treatment and 0.46 (0.04) after control treatment (difference, −0.11; 95% CI, −0.22 to 0.01). The mean (SE) proportion of patients without new caries was 0.81 (0.02) after experimental treatment and 0.82 (0.02) after control treatment (difference, 0.01; 95% CI, −0.04 to 0.06). Analysis of imputed data for the full sample did not deviate from per-protocol analyses. There were no adverse events. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this randomized clinical trial, silver diamine fluoride with fluoride varnish was noninferior to sealants and atraumatic restorations with fluoride varnish for caries arrest and prevention. Results may support the use of silver diamine fluoride as an arresting and preventive agent in school-based oral health programs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03442309