Early childhood caries – maternal factors and early colonization of oral bacteria

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The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry define Early childhood caries (ECC) as the presence of one or more decayed (cavitated or non-cavitated lesions), missing (due to caries), or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a child younger than 71 months of age. This aim of this review was twofold to assess the relationship [read the full story…]

Trial shows biannual application of silver diamine fluoride better than annual application at arresting caries

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There has been a recent surge of interest in use of sliver-fluoride regimens for caries control as sadly dental caries is still a significant problem worldwide.  The aim of this trial was to compare the effectiveness of annual topical application of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) solution, semi-annual topical application of SDF solution, and annual application [read the full story…]

Parental influences on early childhood caries

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The broad aim of this review was to look at the literature that has assessed the role of parental influences in early childhood caries (ECC).  The authors had 4 questions they were hoping to address. What parental variables have been studied within the context of dental caries development in young children aged 0–6 years? What [read the full story…]

Review supports effectiveness of fluoride toothpastes in reducing caries in pre-school children

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Despite improvements dental caries remains a significant oral health problem. In some areas increases in caries prevalence has been reported in pre-school children in contracts with other age group. The resultant pain, sepsis and the need for extraction have significant impact on quality of life.  Cochrane and other systematic reviews have shown that use of [read the full story…]

Poor evidence regarding whether to use resin-modified glass ionomer or calcium hydroxide cements in deep cavities

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This new critical summary from the ADA-Center for Evidence Based Dentistry looks at a 2010 review from Mickenautsch et al. The aim of that review was to compare the pulpal responses to resin-modified glass ionomer cement (RM-GIC) and calcium hydroxide when placed in deep cavities. The review only included six trials (one randomized and five [read the full story…]

Daily use of chlorhexidine gel in addition to regular brushing with low fluoride toothpaste did not provide additional reductions in early childhood caries

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Early childhood caries (ECC) remains a challenge for many communities. Chlorhexidine (CHX) is a common oral antiseptic with effective bactericidal activity against mutans streptococci (MS) and early colonisation of the oral cavity by MS has been identified as a risk factor for ECC. The aim of this study was to test whether the daily application [read the full story…]

In pre-school children addition of casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate paste to regular brushing with fluoridated toothpaste did not have added decay prevention effect

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Early childhood caries (ECC) remains a significant public health problem and evidence (Yengopal 2009) and  has suggested that casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP) may improve the effectiveness of fluoridated toothpaste. The aim of this study was to see if adding the daily application of a CPP-ACP-containing paste for 1 yr is superior to regular fluoride [read the full story…]

Sealants, fluoride varnish and silver diamine fluoride compared

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Dental caries is unfortunately still a common problem among children worldwide.  Cochrane reviews have shown the effectiveness of pit and fissure sealants (Hiiri et al  2009)  and fluoride varnishes (Marinho et al 2002) . While other reviews have found silver diamine fluoride (SDF) to be effective (Rosenblatt et al 2009).  The aim of this trial [read the full story…]

Review suggests no significant difference between the caries preventive impact of GIC and resin sealant materials

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This critical appraisal of a update of a systematic review was prepared under the auspices of the American Dental Associations Centre for Evidence-based Dentistry. The aim of the review (Mickenautsch & Yengopal 2011) was to assess the caries-preventive effect of glass ionomer and resin-based fissure sealants on permanent teeth. This 2011 review was itself an [read the full story…]

Home visits and telephone contacts reduced early childhood caries in a low socio-economic area

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Early childhood caries (ECC) remains an important clinical challenge so a range of preventive approaches have been used. The aims of this study were to investigate the efficacy of  home visits (HV) compared with  telephone contacts (TC) and no contact (NC) in reducing ECC , Mutans streptococcus (MS) levels and lactobacilli(LB) colonisation in children from [read the full story…]