Comparison of Pit and Fissure Sealant Versus Fluoride Varnish in Prevention of Occlusal Caries

It was to compare the efficacy of semiannually fluoride varnish application versus pit and fissure sealant to reduce occlusal caries incidence. A randomized parallel designed study was conducted with 352 child-ren aged 6-7 years. Participants were allocated into biannual application of varnish (n=179) (NaF 5 %(Durafluor, DENTSPLY®, Latin America) or resin-based fissure sealant (n=173) (Eco Seal, Korea®) single application without previous tooth preparation. Two visual-tactile methods including WHO and Nyvad criteria were used for caries detection. The unit of analysis was tooth surface. χ2 test, t-test, Fisher exact, and multi-variable logistic regression were used for statis-tical analysis. Proportion of caries free (DMF=0) were 79.8% and 79.1% among the sealant and var-nish groups respectively. By using Nyvad visual-tactile criteria 60.4% and 50.2% of surfaces re-mained sound in sealant and varnish groups respectively (p < 0.001). The prevented fraction of sealant to varnish by two measures was 3.46 and 20.5 respectively. Regression model showed sealant application (OR=0.34) and tooth brushing >2 times/day (OR=0.8) were protective factors while dmfs>4(OR=0.08), and snack con-sumption >2 times/day (OR=1.3) were risk fac-tors of caries incidence. The results of this study suggest that semiannual fluoride varnish application can be recommended for preventing and reducing occlusal caries in low caries risk population.