Two minimally invasive treatments used in New York City elementary schools successfully halted the progression of most cavities over a four-year period, according to NYU College of Dentistry. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, come from NYU’s CariedAway program, a school-based dental care initiative designed to study non-surgical approaches for managing existing cavities.
According to NYU College of Dentistry, researchers compared two treatments: atraumatic restorative treatment (ART), which removes decay with hand instruments 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.
At biannual school visits, dental professionals applied either ART or SDF, depending on the school’s assigned treatment group. Each visit also included fluoride varnish application.
According to NYU College of Dentistry, earlier analysis of the program showed that a single treatment with either method prevented approximately half of cavities from worsening over two years. The latest data extend that timeline to four years and examine outcomes at the level of individual tooth surfaces.
“This study is our most robust analysis of these different cavity prevention techniques, as we focused on decay on each tooth surface and measured it up to four years,” said Ryan Richard Ruff, PhD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology and health promotion at NYU College of Dentistry and a principal investigator of CariedAway.
The study followed more than 1,600 children between the ages of 5 and 13, treating over 10,000 cavities. According to NYU College of Dentistry, the researchers found that SDF stopped 62 percent of decayed surfaces from progressing, while ART prevented worsening in 55 percent of cases.
“Offering ART or SDF in schools can help avoid the need for more invasive dental treatment and improve access to preventive care,” said Tamarinda J. Barry Godín, DDS, MPH, a research scientist at NYU College of Dentistry and CariedAway project director.
The CariedAway program aims to address barriers to dental care by delivering preventive and therapeutic services directly in schools. According to NYU College of Dentistry, children in the United States miss an estimated 34 million hours of school each year due to emergency dental care, much of which is preventable.
The study was funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
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