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Conservative Versus Non-conservative Treatment for Severe Dental Caries

Conservative Versus Non-conservative Treatment for Severe Dental Caries in Preschool Children and Its Impact on Oral Health-related Quality of Life, Anthropometric Measures, Space Loss and Anxiety: a Randomized Clinical Trial

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT01858298
Enrollment
100
Registered
2013-05-21
Start date
2013-12-31
Completion date
2015-03-31
Last updated
2015-05-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Dental Caries

Keywords

Dental caries, Quality of Life, Pulpectomy, Tooth extraction

Brief summary

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of the conservative (pulpectomy) versus non-conservative treatment (tooth extraction) of primary molars affected with severe dental caries associated to oral health-related quality of life, anthropometric and clinical outcomes.

Detailed description

Treatment: evaluate two interventions for treating severe dental caries in primary molared of preschool children. SAMPLE: preschool children aged 3 to 5 years with severe dental caries (SDC) in primary molars. SDC will be indicated by the Pufa index. The Pufa index records the presence of severely decayed teeth with visible pulp involvement (p), ulceration of the oral mucosa owing to root fragments (u), fistula (f) and abscess (a). Children with pufa-score \> 0 in primary molars will be included in the study. All children aged 3 to 5 years, who sought dental screening at the Dental School, University of São Paulo (USP) in August to October 2013 can be initially eligible. CLINICAL GROUPS RANDOMLY ASSIGNED: * Group A: Conservative treatment represented by pulpectomies + teeth restoration with composite resin crown. * Group B: Dental extraction * Treatment of carious teeth with pufa score =0 will receive dental fillings (01 occlusal surface affected: ART; 02 surfaces affected: composite resin; ≥ 03 surfaces affected: composite resin crown). * One operator (specialists in paediatric dentistry) blinded to the outcomes will carry out the treatments. FOLLOW-UP: 4, 8 and 12 months. OUTCOMES: All outcomes will be assessed by a single person interviewer/examiner blinded to the oral treatments groups. 1. Oral Health-Related Quality of Life: * Brazilian SOHO-5 * Brazilian ECOHIS 2. Anthropometric measures: * Weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ) * Height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) * BMI-for age Z-score (BAZ) 3. Dental anxiety (Facial Image Scale). 4. Dental pain (Wong-Baker Scale) 5. Problems in the developing occlusion: loss of space

Interventions

OTHERNon-conservative treatment: Tooth extraction
OTHERConservative treatment: pulpectomy and composite resin crown

Sponsors

University College, London
CollaboratorOTHER
Federal University of Minas Gerais
CollaboratorOTHER
University of Sao Paulo
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
3 Years to 5 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Preschool children with severe dental caries (SDC) in primary molars. * SDC will be indicated by the Pufa index * The Pufa index records the presence of severely decayed teeth with visible pulp involvement (p), ulceration of the oral mucosa owing to root fragments (u), fistula (f) and abscess (a). Children with a pufa-score \> 0 will be included in the study.

Exclusion criteria

* Children with severe crowding of anterior teeth * Severe arch length deficiencies * Children with systemic and neurological diseases or those with illnesses that adversely affect growth according to parents reports * Children on regular nutrition supplements * Children who had undergone dental treatment in the last three months and who were not willing to participate in the study. Tooth with anomalies, extensive crown destruction and impossibility of absolute isolation in the conservative intervention group.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
oral health-related quality of life12 months\- OHRQoL instruments: Brazilian SOHO-5 Brazilian ECOHIS

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
anthropometric measures12 months* Weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ) * Height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) * BMI-for age Z-score (BAZ)
loss of space12 monthsExtraction space The referent space was determined by measuring the distance between the mesial and distal midpoints of the adjacents teeth to extraction or pulpectomy
dental anxiety12 monthsScale anxiety using the Facial Image Scale
Dental pain12 monthsThe Wong-Baker Faces Pain Scale will be used to asses dental pain

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026