275 - Comparative clinical outcomes between three treatment methods; silver diamine fluoride, sedation and general anesthesia, for children with early childhood caries: A retrospective study

Comparative outcomes of SDF, Sedation, and GA, for children with ECC, Cory Daley, DMD, Christopher Gordon, DMD, Katherine Gouveia, DMD, Stephen Hartzog, DMD, Marc Levicoff, DMD, MS, Cody Sia, DMD
(NYU Langone Dental Medicine-Advanced Education in Pediatric Dentistry  155 – 155th Street  Brooklyn, NY 11220)    

Purpose:  The study’s purpose was to determine if differences in post-treatment clinical outcomes exist between silver diamine fluoride (SDF), conscious sedation (SED), or general anesthesia (GA) treatment for children with early childhood caries (ECC), regarding post-treatment intraoral swelling, antibiotics for pain, new caries, broken restorations, space maintainers, additional visits, and extractions. 

Methods:  Data for 1203 children, from 2010-2020 was extracted by retrospective chart review comparing clinical outcomes for children with ECC under age seven who were treated with SDF, SED or GA. Two sample t-test, fisher exact test, and ANOVA tests were used to examine the data. 

Results: The comparative outcomes between children treated with SDF, SED, or GA demonstrated statistically significant differences in post-treatment mean frequency for 1) intraoral swelling, 2) visits, 3) extractions and 4) prescribed antibiotics for pain and 5) broken restorations and space maintainers. There was no statistically significant difference in post-treatment mean frequency of new caries on molars when treated with SDF and GA. 

Conclusions:   The study showed GA treatment had lower frequencies of post-treatment pain, extractions, visits, broken restorations, and intraoral swelling compared to SED and SDF; and GA and SDF treatment had lower prevalence of new caries on permanent molars compared to SED.