Dental pain or sensitivity · Children and adults (with or without carious lesions)
The review found no eligible studies for this question.
1 finding from 1 review
Adverse effects · Children and adults (with or without carious lesions)
The review found no eligible studies for this question.
1 finding from 1 review
Aesthetics · Children and adults (with or without carious lesions)
1 finding from 1 review
1 study reported that 45% of parents were satisfied with appearance of their child's teeth; data not reported by study group. 1 study reported that 1 of 34 caregivers in SDF group were "annoyed with teeth appearance",…
2 studies · 248 participants
Very low
Not applicable (no eligible studies) · Adults with coronal (crown) dental caries in permanent teeth
No eligible studies assessed SDF for coronal caries in adults; this is an evidence gap identified by the review.
1 finding from 1 review
Oral health-related quality of life · Children with dental caries
SDF did not significantly differ from placebo for oral health-related quality of life in children (MD 0.03, 95% CI -0.16 to 0.22; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Oral health-related quality of life · Children with dental caries
SDF did not significantly differ from atraumatic restorative treatment for oral health-related quality of life (MD 0.02, 95% CI -0.32 to 0.36; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrestment at the individual (patient) level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)
Compared with other caries-management methods, SDF may increase caries arrestment at the individual level, but the pooled estimate is very imprecise (low certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrestment at the surface level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)
In one trial, nano-silver fluoride arrested more surfaces than SDF (OR 0.52 favoring the comparator; ungraded subgroup).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrestment at the individual (patient) level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)
Pooling two trials, nano-silver fluoride achieved higher individual-level caries arrestment than SDF (OR 0.39 favoring the comparator; ungraded subgroup).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrestment at the tooth level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)
SDF probably results in a slight increase in tooth-level caries arrestment versus other methods (moderate certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrestment at the surface level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)
SDF probably makes little to no difference to surface-level caries arrestment versus other methods (moderate certainty).
1 finding from 1 review
Adverse effects (tooth staining and other side effects) · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)
SDF commonly causes black staining of arrested lesions; only mild, transient adverse events were reported, with no major adverse events (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrestment at the tooth level · Children and adults with active dental caries (aged 1-50; mostly preschool/school children with primary dentition)
Pooling two trials, SDF and nano-silver fluoride showed no significant difference in tooth-level caries arrestment (OR 1.47; ungraded subgroup).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrest · Children (age 1-10 years) with active cavitated dentin caries lesions in primary molars
SDF is effective in arresting caries progression in cavitated primary molars overall (pooled ES 0.33, 95% CI 0.26-0.40; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Patient discomfort during treatment (anxiety scale) · Children (age 1-10 years) with active cavitated dentin caries lesions in primary molars
One study found no significant difference in patient discomfort between SDF and ART (p = 0.15; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrest · Children (age 1-10 years) with active cavitated dentin caries lesions in primary molars
The pooled caries arrest rate with SDF (>=30%, applied annually/biannually) was 51.62% (622/1205 lesions arrested) at >=12 months follow-up.
1 finding from 1 review
Caries arrest · Children (age 1-10 years) with active cavitated dentin caries lesions in primary molars
SDF was not significantly better than ART at arresting caries (pooled ES 0.05, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.51; ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review
Arrest of dentine caries · Preschool children with active dentine caries in primary teeth (mean age 3.4-4.0 years)
Silver diamine fluoride was about 2.5 times more likely than sodium fluoride to arrest dentine caries surfaces at 18 months (pooled OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.25 to 5.10; 2 RCTs), although between-study heterogeneity was high (I2=90.3%); certainty of evidence was not formally graded.
2 findings from 1 review
Treatment success (caries lesion arrest or restoration survival) · Children (aged 3-11 y) with cavitated caries lesions in primary teeth
At 6 months, SDF had significantly higher treatment success than placebo (OR 33.62).
1 finding from 1 review
OR 33.62 [3.01, 375.92]
44 studies
GRADE not reported
Prevention of new caries (caries development/increment) · Preschool children (primary dentition) at risk of new caries
Limited evidence from two trials suggests SDF may help prevent new caries, but preventive efficacy was not meta-analyzed and remains uncertain (ungraded).
1 finding from 1 review