Preventing dental caries in Sjogren’s syndrome patients with fluoride varnish

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of quarterly professionally applied fluoride varnish in preventing dental caries in Sjögren's Syndrome (SS) patients over 24 months. METHODS: At baseline, 85 SS patients (83 women and 2 men; 38 primary SS (pSS) and 47 secondary SS (sSS) cases , mean age = 50.5±9.8) participated in this study after obtaining informed consent and IRB approval. Status of the teeth was assessed by a single trained examiner in a clinical setting using CPI probes and mouth mirrors. After examination, subjects were randomly assigned to the test and placebo control groups. A 5% sodium fluoride varnish was applied to all tooth surfaces every three months by dentists not involved in the examination. Follow-up examinations by the same blinded examiner were performed every 6 months to record development of new caries. RESULTS: So far, 58 subjects (27 in test and 31 in control group) completed the study. Over the 2-year period, 7 (25.9 %) subjects of the test group and 14 (46.8%) subjects of the control group developed new caries (Chi-square test, p>0.05). The mean number of teeth with new carious cavities were 0.7 (s.d.=1.4) and 1.2 (s.d.=2.5) for the test and control groups, respectively (Mann-Whitney U test, p>0.05). The corresponding numbers for decayed tooth surfaces were 0.9 (s.d.=2.0) and 1.9 (s.d.=4.1) for the test and control groups, respectively (Mann-Whitney U test, p>0.05) . The prevented fraction was 52.6%. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the interim results of this on-going clinical trial, firm conclusion on the effectiveness on quarterly application of 5% sodium fluoride varnish in preventing dental caries in Sjögren's Syndrome patients cannot be drawn.