This project was a prospective, randomized clinical trial (RCT) among initially caries-free children from about six months old (when primary teeth erupt) up to age three at two public health facilities in San Francisco, one serving a primarily Latino and one a primarily Asian population. The RCT 1) Compared the efficacy of once or twice/year fluoride varnish (FV) application and counseling to counseling alone in preventing early childhood caries (ECC); 2) Assessed pre-intervention salivary markers (biologic and chemical), behavioral and demographic factors as predictors of ECC; 3) Compared the efficacy of these interventions between sites serving different ethnic populations with a high prevalence of ECC; and 4) Determined the salivary fluoride release profile following exposure to fluoride varnish.
The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of fluoride varnish (FV) applied once or twice a year with counseling to counseling alone in preventing early childhood caries (ECC) (tooth decay in children under the age of five).