Caries Preventive Effect of Sodium Fluoride Varnish on Deciduous Dentition: A Clinical Trial.

AIM: The aim of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of intensive application of sodium fluoride varnish in reducing caries incidence among children aged 6 to 7 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was a randomized controlled trial conducted among 6- to 7-year-old children of Sangamner, Maharashtra, India. Nearly 200 randomly selected children were randomized into two groups: Control group and intervention (varnish) group. Dental examination to record the caries experiences was conducted at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. The fluoride varnish was applied for three times in a week for a period of 1 year. Mean decayed, missed, and filled teeth (DMFT) were compared between and within groups using t-test. RESULTS: Out of 200 participants, there were 3 dropouts for control group and 4 for intervention group. Nearly 55% study participants were males and remaining were females. There was a statistically significant difference between the baseline and follow-up caries levels in varnish group for deciduous dentition. Mean caries reduction in this study was 26%. CONCLUSION: After 1 year of study, we found significant caries reversal in deciduous dentition among the 6- to 7-year-olds after intensive fluoride application. Such a regimen can be advocated to encourage the practitioners and the caregivers alike for early caries prevention. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Intensive fluoride application (three times a week) once a year was found to be effective in reducing the incidence of detectable carious lesions and can be advocated to the dental professionals to be incorporated in their routine preventive clinical practice.

Dental caries and its relationship to malocclusion in permanent dentition among 12-15 year old school going children.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to know the prevalence of dental caries among children having malocclusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 880 students aged 1215 years, among whom 488 were boys and 392 were girls. A proforma was prepared to record dental caries status and dental esthetic index (DAI) using the WHO Oral Health Assessment Form (1997). Data were analyzed using Student's t-test and ANOVA. The P value of 0.05 or less was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: It was found that 644 (73.2%) had no abnormality or minor malocclusion, whereas 115 (13.0%), 100 (11.4%) and 21 (2.4%) had definite, severe and very severe or handicapping malocclusion, respectively. Overall mean of decayed teeth (DT) component was found to be 0.95 ± 1.006, missing teeth 0.23 ± 0.670 and filled teeth 0.23 ± 0.559 and decayed, missing, filled tooth (DMFT) was 1.41 ± 1.483. DT and overall DMFT component significantly increased with increasing DAI of malocclusion (P ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSION: The severity of dental caries showed positive relation with DAI and age.