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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Preventive Dentistry
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2024.1492762
This article is part of the Research Topic Innovative Dental Biomaterials for Advancing Oral Health Care View all 4 articles

The Role of Silver Diamine Fluoride as Dental Caries Preventive and Arresting Agent: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Saeed S Alqalaleef Saeed S Alqalaleef 1,2Rabab A Alnakhli Rabab A Alnakhli 1,2Yousef Ezzat Yousef Ezzat 1,2Hamad I AlQadi Hamad I AlQadi 1,2Abdulrahman D Aljilani Abdulrahman D Aljilani 1,2Zuhair S. Natto Zuhair S. Natto 3,4*
  • 1 Royal Commission Medical Center (RCMC), Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
  • 2 Department of Dentistry, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
  • 3 King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • 4 Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Dental caries is a significant global health concern, impacting around 2.5 billion people worldwide. Conventional methods for managing dental caries have evolved to prioritize preventive measures and minimally invasive treatment alternatives.One of these approaches involves the application of silver diamine fluoride. Although effective, the limited use of SDF is attributed to concerns about potential long-term complications and other adverse effects. Objective: This systematic review aims to assess the role of SDF in preventing and managing dental caries, evaluating its efficacy and adverse reactions. Material and Methods: This review adheres to PRISMA guidelines. An electronic search was performed on PubMed, Google Scholar, and CENTRAL to include peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials published between 2014 and 2024. The Cochrane risk of bias and GRADE tools were employed to evaluate the trials and ensure the certainty of the evidence. Statistical analysis was conducted to examine the effectiveness of SDF at the individual, tooth, and surface levels. Results:Findings from 20 randomized controlled trials, which met the inclusion criteria, revealed that participants aged 1 -50 showed promising results with follow-up intervals ranging from 1 -30 months. The caries arrestment rate of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) varied from 25% to 99%. Conclusion: These results indicate that SDF could be an invaluable tool in combating dental caries, providing a less invasive and potentially more costeffective alternative to traditional treatment methods. Nonetheless, further research is essential to comprehensively understand the potential of SDF in various settings and to optimize its application in clinical practice.

    Keywords: Carious lesions, Dental decay, prevention and control, diamine silver fluoride, review -systematic, Primary dentition, Permanent dentition

    Received: 07 Sep 2024; Accepted: 12 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Alqalaleef, Alnakhli, Ezzat, AlQadi, Aljilani and Natto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zuhair S. Natto, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.