Effectiveness of ART and traditional amalgam approach in restoring single-surface cavities in posterior teeth of permanent dentitions in school children after 6.3 years.
OBJECTIVE
The Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) approach was compared with the traditional amalgam (TA) approach in order to test their appropriateness to complement a preventive and educational school oral health programme in Syria.


METHODS
Using a parallel group design, 370 and 311 grade 2 children were randomly assigned to the ART and the TA group respectively. Eight dentists placed 1117 single- and multiple-surface restorations. A modified actuarial method was used to estimate survival curves. The jackknife method was applied to calculate the standard error in the cumulative survival percentages.


RESULTS
A statistically significant difference in cumulative survival percentages between single-surface non-occlusal ART and comparable amalgam restorations was observed after 4.3, 5.3 and 6.3 years. The survival of single-surface non-occlusal ART posterior restorations (80.2 +/- 4.9%) was statistically significantly higher than that of occlusal posterior ART restorations (64.8 +/- 3.9%) at evaluation year 6.3. There was no statistically significant difference observed between survival percentages of large (55.8 +/- 10%) and that of small (69.2 +/- 4.6%) single-surface posterior ART restorations after 6.3 years. There was an operator effect observed for single-surface ART and comparable amalgam restorations. Secondary caries was observed in 2.3% of single-surface ART restorations and in 3.7% of single-surface amalgam restorations during the 6.3 year observation period.


CONCLUSIONS
The ART approach provided higher survival percentages for single-surface restorations than the TA approach over 6.3 years and is therefore appropriate for use in school oral health programmes. Secondary caries was only a minor reason for ART restorations to fail. An operator effect was observed for both treatment approaches.
Frencken
J E
JE
WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Health Care Planning and Future Scenarios, Radboud University Medical Centre, College of Dental Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. j.frencken@dent.umcn.nl
van't Hof
M A
MA
Taifour
D
D
Al-Zaher
I
I
D001641:Bicuspid; D002648:Child; D004245:DMF Index; D003723:Dental Amalgam; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D003737:Dental Cavity Preparation / Q000145:classification / Q000379:methods; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005899:Glass Ionomer Cements; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006801:Humans; D008963:Molar; D012008:Recurrence; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013593:Syria
D005899:Glass Ionomer Cements; C110713:fuji IX; C110712:ketac-molar; D003723:Dental Amalgam