title: 5-Year survival of ART restorations with and without cavity disinfection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The null-hypothesis tested was that there is no difference between the survival of ART restorations with, and without, cavity disinfection among adolescents after 5 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eligible students were allocated to one of the treatment groups. One operator placed a total of 90 restorations, 45 each per treatment group, in ninety 14-15 year olds. Restorations were evaluated on replica models at baseline and after 1 and 5 years, by two calibrated and independent evaluators using the ART criteria. The independent variables were gender, mean DMFT score at baseline, cavity size (small/large), cavity type (single-/multiple surfaces) and disinfected cavity (yes/no). Statistical analyses were done using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cumulative survival percentage and standard error for the 61 ART restorations with and without disinfection at evaluation year 5 were 85% (S.E.=6.1%) and 80% (S.E.=7.1%), respectively: not significantly different (p=0.37) from each other. The cumulative survival percentage and standard error for all ART restorations was 97% (S.E.=2.0%) at evaluation year 1 and 82% (S.E.=4.7%) at year 5, and it was 85% (S.E.=5.4%) for single- and 77% (S.E.=9%) for multiple-surface ART restorations at year 5. The cumulative survival percentage of all ART restorations at evaluation year 5 was statistically significant higher for boys than for girls (p=0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Disinfecting a cavity cleaned according to ART with a 2% chlorhexidine solution is unnecessary. It is useful to introduce the ART approach systematically into the healthcare system in Egypt.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry, Minia University, Minia City, Egypt.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farag
authors.forename: W J M
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: van der Sanden
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abdelwahab
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Frencken