Yl. Fennisle et al., EFFECT OF 6-MONTHLY APPLICATIONS OF CHLORHEXIDINE VARNISH ON INCIDENCE OF OCCLUSAL CARIES IN PERMANENT MOLARS - A 3-YEAR STUDY, Journal of dentistry, 26(3), 1998, pp. 233-238
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a chlorh
exidine varnish on occlusal caries incidence when applied 6-monthly in
to the fissures of erupting and freshly erupted permanent molars. Meth
ods: In a double-blind clinical trial, 332 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 in the
study were that all first permanent molars in 5-6-year-olds and all se
cond permanent molars in 11-12-year-olds either had recently erupted,
or were in a stage of eruption, or would erupt within half a year. At
baseline, counts of dmfs/DMFS and mutans streptococci in saliva were r
ecorded. During a maximum of 3 years, every 6 months the occlusal surf
aces of molars in the experimental group received a 40% chlorhexidine
varnish application, whereas those in the control group received a pla
cebo varnish application. Results: Data of 316 children were analysed
and ANOVA showed no significant occlusal caries reduction in this samp
le of Dutch 5/6- and 11/12-year-old children. After stratification int
o low and high caries risk groups, a statistically significant caries-
reducing effect on occlusal caries in permanent molars was found in th
e group of children with greater than or equal to 10(6) mutans strepto
cocci per mi saliva (P<0.05). Conclusion: Six-monthly application of c
hlorhexidine varnish has no caries-reducing effect on occlusal caries
in recently erupted permanent molars in a population with low caries p
revalence. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.