Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Systematic Approach to Identify Novel Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Molecules from Plants' Extracts and Fractions to Prevent Dental Caries
Published on: March 31, 2021
Is Silver Diamine Fluoride Effective in Preventing and Arresting Caries in Elderly Adults? A Systematic Review
Gireesh Kumar Subbiah1, Nithin Manchery Gopinathan2
1Former Post Graduate Student, Centre for Public Health, Queen's University, Belfast, United Kingdom.
Aim:
Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) has invoked interest in recent times due to its remineralization capacity and non-invasive application procedure. The aim of this systematic review was to report the findings concerning the effectiveness of SDF in managing caries in the elderly adults.
Materials And Methods:
A systematic search of publications was conducted using four databases: PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL. The key MeSH term combinations used were (silver diamine fluoride) AND (caries) AND (elderly).
Results:
The review found only three well-conducted randomized controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of SDF on root caries in community-dwelling elders. None of the studies addressed coronal caries. The effectiveness improved when combined with structured oral health education.
Conclusion:
The available limited evidence on SDF shows that it is effective in arresting and preventing root caries in the elderly. More high-quality studies need to be done to verify the effectiveness on coronal caries and long-term effects of SDF in the elderly with varying levels of dependency.
Related Concept Videos
Review and Preview
Percentiles are a type of fractile that partition data into...
Review and Preview
Random and Systematic Errors
Systematic Sampling Method
Systematic sampling is one of the simplest methods...
Cancer Prevention
Some...
Propagation of Uncertainty from Systematic Error

