Silver diamine fluoride therapy for dental care

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) was developed in Japan in the 1960s. It is used to control early childhood caries, arrest root caries, prevent fissure caries and secondary caries, desensitise hypersensitive teeth, re -mineralise hypomineralised teeth, prevent dental erosion, detect carious tissue during excavation and manage infected root canals. SDF is commonly available as a 38% solution containing 255,000 ppm silver and 44,800 ppm fluoride ions. Silver is an antimicrobial and inhibits cariogenic biofilm. Fluoride promotes remineralisation and inhibits the demineralisation of teeth. SDF also inactivates proteolytic peptidases and inhibits dentine collagen degradation. It arrests caries without affecting dental pulp or causing dental fluorosis. Indirect pulp capping with SDF causes no or mild inflammatory pulpal response. However, direct application of SDF to dental pulp causes pulp necrosis. Furthermore, SDF stains carious lesions black. Patients must be well informed before SDF treatment. SDF therapy is simple, painless, non-invasive, in-expensive, and requires a simple armamentarium and minimal support. Both clinicians and patients gen-erally accept it well. In 2021, the World Health Organization included SDF as an essential medicine that is effective and safe for patients. Moreover, it can be used for caries control during the COVID-19 pandemic because it is non-aerosol-generating and has a low risk of cross-infection.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Japanese Association for Dental Science. This

Automated summary

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is an effective and safe treatment for early childhood caries, root caries, fissure caries, dentin hypersensitivity, hypomineralized teeth, dental erosion, and infected root canals. It has antimicrobial and remineralization-promoting properties, and is simple, painless, and cost-effective, making it widely accepted.