What do systematic reviews say?

Selective carious tissue removal (selective excavation, SE) vs Stepwise carious tissue removal (SW)

• Interventions for treating cavitated or dentine carious lesions 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes

  Permanent and primary dentition
  Cost-effectiveness reported narratively: SE found more cost-effective than SW in permanent (Labib 2019) and primary teeth (Elhennawy 2021); not GRADE-rated.
  2 studies
  GRADE not reported

Selective carious tissue removal (selective excavation, SE) vs Stepwise carious tissue removal (SW)

Selective carious tissue removal (selective excavation, SE) probably leads to higher failure of therapy compared with stepwise carious tissue removal (SW) (moderate certainty).

• Interventions for treating cavitated or dentine carious lesions 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes

  12-60 months · Deep lesions, permanent dentition
  OR 2.25 [1.33, 3.82]
  3 studies · 371 participants
  Moderate
• Interventions for treating cavitated or dentine carious lesions 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes

  12-24 months · Deep lesions, primary dentition
  OR 2.05 [0.49, 8.62]
  2 studies · 126 participants
  Very low

Selective carious tissue removal (selective excavation, SE) vs Hall Technique (sealing with a preformed metal crown)

It is very uncertain whether selective carious tissue removal (selective excavation, SE) changes failure of therapy compared with hall Technique (sealing with a preformed metal crown) (very low certainty).

• Interventions for treating cavitated or dentine carious lesions 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes

  24-36 months · Deep lesions, primary dentition
  OR 1.95 [0.57, 6.63]
  1 study · 72 participants
  Very low
• Interventions for treating cavitated or dentine carious lesions 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes

  24 months · Cavitated but not deep lesions, primary dentition
  OR 8.94 [0.57, 139.67]
  2 studies · 586 participants
  Very low