A Study to assess the awareness and use of Silver Diammine Fluoride and Hall Technique among dental professionals and dental students in the Eastern Province

Tarek Ezzeldin; Khalaf A Al-Awasi; Rawan M Bader; Abdulaziz Y Alshaikhi; Ashwaq H Hakami; Intisar Ahmad Siddiqui; Ahmad A Almulhim; Turki M Alsubaie

doi:10.1016/j.sdentj.2021.01.005

A Study to assess the awareness and use of Silver Diammine Fluoride and Hall Technique among dental professionals and dental students in the Eastern Province

Saudi Dent J. 2021 Dec;33(8):1166-1173. doi: 10.1016/j.sdentj.2021.01.005. Epub 2021 Feb 11.

Authors

Tarek Ezzeldin¹, Khalaf A Al-Awasi², Rawan M Bader³, Abdulaziz Y Alshaikhi⁴, Ashwaq H Hakami⁵, Intisar Ahmad Siddiqui⁶, Ahmad A Almulhim⁷, Turki M Alsubaie⁸

Affiliations

¹ Medical Program Director Saudi Board Pediatric Dentistry, Dammam Specialized Dental Center, Dammam Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.
² Medical Program Director Saudi Board Endodontics, Dammam Specialized Dental Center, Dammam Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.
³ Pediatric Dentistry Specialist, Dammam Specialized Dental Center, Dammam Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Advanced Restorative Dentistry, Dammam Specialized Dental Center, Dammam Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Pediatric Dentistry, Dammam Specialized Dental Center, Dammam Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Orthodontics Saudi Board Resident, Dammam Specialized Dental Center, Dammam Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Prosthodontics Fellowship Resident, Dammam Specialized Dental Center, Dammam Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: A major shift has occured in the trend of dealing with dental caries from primary to secondary prevention, specially after SDF approval off-label by US FDA in recent years and Hall Technique (HT) in the last decade.

Objectives: To determine the frequency of awareness and use of Silver Diammine Fluoride (SDF) and Hall technique among dental professionals in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a public hospital, metropolitan city of Middle Eastern region between March 15, 2019 & January 31, 2020. Dental practitioners were requested, with their consent, to fill up a digitally designed survey. Chi-square test on SPSS-20.0 was applied to compare frequency of awareness and use of SDF and HALL Technique among the survey participants.

Results: The awareness of SDF was found to be 73.6% among specialists, 54.9% among graduates and 29.6% among students whereas awareness of HALL technique for stainless steel crown in pediatric dentistry was found statistically similar in all participants groups i.e. 42.7% in students, 55.5% in graduates and 54.9% in specialist group (p = 0.125).

Conclusion: The results show potential with regards to awareness of dental specialists & postgraduate residents but inadequate among general dentists and students though all were keen advocates and found committed to its use to help the community. It points towards a further need of the of education for all groups. Those non- invasive techniques are very useful tools in general but specifically during Covid-19 pandemic where they can play a major role in preventing the spread of infection, arresting decay, alleviating pain and anxiety without resorting to aggressive treatment like pulp treatment/extraction. Low response rate may be improved in future through the respondents' counselling and regular follow up.

Keywords: Caries arrest; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; GA, General Anaesthesia; HT, Hall Technique; Hall technique; Minimal invasive; SDF, Silver Diammine Fluoride; Secondary prevention; Silver Diammine Fluoride.