Effectiveness of nanosilver fluoride and silver diamine fluoride in arresting early childhood caries: a randomized controlled clinical trial

Study answer

What this study found

NSF was more effective than 38% SDF for arresting early childhood caries at both 6 and 12 months. Lesion-level caries arrest was 78.4% (691/881) with NSF versus 65.0% (632/972) with SDF at 6 months and 71.3% (628/881) versus 56.3% (547/972) at 12 months, both p < 0.001. Patient-level arrest was also higher with NSF: 61.1% (110/180) versus 40.0% (72/180) at 6 months and 58.3% (105/180) versus 35.6% (64/180) at 12 months, both p < 0.001. NSF caused no black staining and was associated with higher parental satisfaction with children's dental appearance (97.2% vs 76.1%, p < 0.001).

Study & population

Randomized controlled clinical trial in preschool children younger than 4 years with active carious lesions recruited from rural nurseries near Alexandria, Egypt.

Intervention

The active intervention was nanosilver fluoride (NSF), a topical Nano Silver Fluoride formulation containing AgNPs, chitosan, and fluoride.

Key limitation

Follow-up was limited to 12 months and the population came from a single rural Egyptian setting, which limits generalizability.

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Original abstract