A clinical trial was conducted to compare the effect of different caries-pr
eventive strategies on caries progression in lower-income, ethnically diver
se persons 60 years of age and older, Two hundred and ninety-seven subjects
were randomized into one of five experimental groups, Group 1 received usu
al care from a public health department or a private practitioner. Group 2
received an educational program of 2 h duration implemented twice a year, G
roup 3 received the educational program plus a 0.12% chlorhexidine rinse we
ekly. Group 4 received the education and chlorhexidine interventions and a
fluoride varnish application twice a year. Group 5 received all the above i
nterventions as well as scaling and root planing every 6 months throughout
the 3-year study, A carious event was defined as the onset of a carious les
ion, a filling, or an extraction on a surface which was sound at baseline,
Two hundred and one subjects remained in the study for the 3-year period. G
roups that received usual intraoral procedures (groups 3, 4, and 5) had a 2
7% reduction for coronal caries events (p = 0.09) and 23% for root caries e
vents (p = 0.15),, when compared to the groups that received no intraoral p
rocedures (groups 1 and 2). Routine preventive treatments may have had only
a small-to-moderate effect upon caries development.