EFFECTIVENESS-OF CALCIUM PHOSPHATE DERIVATIVE AGENTS ON THE PREVENTION AND REMINERALIZATION OF CARIES AMONG CHILDREN- A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW & META-ANALYSIS OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

ObjectivesDental caries among children is a highly prevalent yet easily preventable oral health issue among children. Various calcium phosphate (CaP) derivatives are implicated to exhibit caries preventive potential; however, no study has summa-rized the anti-caries effectiveness of these agents. This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to assess the caries-preventive and tooth-remineralizing effect of various (CaP) derivative agents compared to no-intervention/placebo or Fluoride (F) use alone among children. Materials and MethodsEMBASE, Ovid, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane central register of controlled trials (CENTRAL), and grey literature were searched for relevant arti-cles up to April 2021. Only English-language articles were included. Total 2636 articles were searched through different databases; out of the 2161 articles were screened after duplicate removal. 26 studies fulfilling the eligibility criteria were included in this systematic review. Methodological quality assessment and quan-titative analysis were done using RevMan. GRADE was used to evaluate the cer-tainty of evidence.Results A total of 26 trials fulfilling the eligibility criteria were included. The meta -analysis of 10 studies revealed that complete white spot lesions (WSLs) regres-sion (RR = 1.56; 95% CI, 1.27 to 1.91; P < .0001, I 2 = 0%), post intervention active WSLs (RR = 0.80; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.90; P = .0004, I 2 = 0%) and post intervention Sali-vary S. mutans count (RR = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.48 to 0.99; P = .47, I 2 = 0%) significantly favored the CaP + F combined therapy as compared to F alone. No significant differences in the lesion area, Delta F, and DIAGNOdent values were observed between the 2 groups. Low certainty of the evidence was found in the present systematic review due to the high/unclear risk of bias, imprecision, and indirect-ness of included trials.Conclusions Topical treatment using CaP + F group showed superior remineralization poten-tial as well as the antibacterial effect on dental caries among children as com-pared to no intervention and/or placebo or F alone. Apart from CPP-ACP, other CaP derivatives like TCP and fTCP seem to have promising effects in reminer-alizing early lesions, however, very few trials exist on these potential agents. To provide definitive recommendations in this area, more clinical trials on caries pre-ventive effectiveness of various CaP agents are warranted.

Automated summary

Dental caries is a highly prevalent oral health issue among children that can be easily prevented. This systematic review and meta-analysis found that various calcium phosphate derivative agents show effectiveness in preventing dental caries and promoting tooth remineralization compared to no intervention/placebo or fluoride use alone.