Background: For treating deep caries lesions, selective or stepwise, i. e. one- and two-step incomplete excavation seems advantageous compared with complete caries removal. However, current evidence regarding the success, as defined by not requiring any re-treatments, or survival of teeth after different excavations is insufficient for definitive recommendation, especially when treating deciduous teeth. Moreover, restoration integrity has not been comparatively analyzed longitudinally, and neither patients', dentists' or parents' preferences nor the clinical long-term costs emanating from both initial and re-treatments have been reported yet.