Atraumatic Restorative Treatment vs. Conventional Treatment for Early Childhood Caries - Randomized Clinical Trial for Survival Analysis and Physiological Discomfort Assessment

Atraumatic Restorative Treatment vs. Conventional Treatment for Early Childhood Caries - Randomized Clinical Trial for Survival Analysis and Physiological Discomfort Assessment

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate patient discomfort during dental treatment and the restoration survival after Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) or Conventional Treatments (CT) for Early Childhood Caries (ECC). Methods: Seventy three (73) primary teeth with dentin caries lesions were selected from children aged from 12 to 48 months in the ART Clinic of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, Brazil. The patients were randomly allocated in two groups: ARTcaries removal with hand instruments followed by restoration with glass ionomer cement and CT-use of local anesthesia, rubber dam, rotary instruments for caries removal and restoration with adhesive system and composite resin. The heart rates were evaluated in different moments during the dental treatment in both groups. The restorations were evaluated after every three months up to 3 years by a single calibrated evaluator. The results were tested by Kaplan Meier survival analysis, log-rank test, Cox regression, ANOVA for Repeated Measures and Student´s t test at 95% confidence level. Results: The mean values of heart rate were higher in CT and there was a statistically significant difference for the moment of anesthesia and rubber dam application (p<0.001). There was no difference between the restoration survival between ART and CT groups after 3 years follow-up (p>0.05). Conclusion: ART presented similar restorations survival with lower discomfort levels when compared to CT in young children.