Abstract
Objective To assess the effect of a chlorhexidine varnish on occlusal caries incidence when applied every 6 months into the fissures of erupting and freshly erupted permanent molars.
Design A double-blind randomised controlled trial.
Intervention Three hundred and thirty-two children aged 5/6 and 11/12 years, attending a Child Dental Health Centre were randomly assigned to a control and an experimental group. Criteria for inclusion were that all first permanent molars in 5/6-year-olds and all second permanent molars in 11/12-year-olds either had recently erupted, were erupting, or would erupt within 6 months every 6 months over a maximum of 3 years. The test group occlusal surfaces of molars had a 40% chlorhexidine varnish application, the control group had placebo varnish.
Outcome measures Counts of dmfs/DMFS and mutans streptococci in saliva were recorded at baseline and end.
Results During a mean follow-up time of 2.5 years, there was no significant occlusal caries reduction using ANOVA in the 312 children completing the study. After stratification into low and high caries risk groups, a statistically significant caries-reducing effect on occlusal caries in permanent molars was found in children with ⩾106 mutans streptococci/ml saliva (P<0.05).
Conclusion Six-monthly application of chlorhexidine varnish has no caries-reducing effect on occlusal caries in recently erupted permanent molars in a population with low caries prevalence.
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Fennis-le YL, Verdonschot EH, Burgersdijk RCW, König KG, van’t Hof MA. Effect of 6-monthly applications of chlorhexidine varnish on incidence of occlusal caries in permanent molars: a 3-year study. J Dent 1998; 26:233–238
Address for reprints: YL Fennis-le, Dept of Cariology and Endodontology, TRIKON: Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9101, NL-6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Ismail, A. Chlorhexidine varnishes provide little benefit for children at low risk for caries. Evid Based Dent 2, 13 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ebd.6400009
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ebd.6400009