Dr. SOEURN Visal
On Wednesday last week a group of 3 dental students from the first graduating class, Chray Mengkheng, Da Sreykhouch and Khun Shunhour, gave the first ever Thesis Defense of the Faculty of Dentistry. In front of a large crowd of students, staff, supervisors, examiners, and the President of UP, the students presenting their research entitled “Effectiveness of Silver Diammine Fluoride for Arresting Caries Treatment in a Convenience Sample of Children at Api Wat Mean Chey Primary School ”. The power-point presentation was followed by about 20 minutes of vigorous questioning from the examiners and audience, following which the examiners adjourned to discuss the results. The final outcome was that the thesis passed with Credit. The three students, examiners and Faculty of Dentistry staff then had photos taken together.
The abstract of the research is below:
Background: Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) is a clinically applied treatment that controls active dental caries and aids in preventing further progression of the caries process. Aim of study: To establish the effectiveness of SDF in arresting dental caries in 6-12 year old Cambodian children. Methods:
A longitudinal observational study was conducted using a convenience sample of 167 children from Api Wat Meanchey primary school who were
recruited following consent. Participants received two applications of SDF (Cariestop 30%) at six months intervals and follow-up examinations after
1 year.
Oral health education was provided to the participants at the beginning of the study and a school tooth brushing program was in place. Results: 118 (70.7%) of the participants were followed up after one year of which 56.8% were female. The mean dmft/DMFT at baseline was 10.5 (SD 7.6) / 4.6 (SD 4.9). At follow up 82.5% of open carious lesions were arrested. Conclusions: Application of 30% SDF solution two times per year was an effective way to manage caries in this very high caries risk population.
