The End of Treating Tooth Decay As We Know It
UCSF Protocol for Caries Arrest Using Silver Diamine Fluoride : Rationale , Indications and Consent
The End of Treating Tooth Decay As We Know It
By Steven M . Parrett , DDS , Communications and Public Relations Advisory Group
This is the end of treating tooth decay as we know it . I hope every general and pediatric dentist understands the gravity of that statement .
If you read this seminal article by the pioneering group out of the University of California , San Francisco School of Dentistry ( UCSF ), you will not think the same way about treating tooth decay ever again . It is not totally new to American dentists . I found an article in a 1937 JADA / The Dental Cosmos titled “ Controlling Dental Caries ” by Dr James Prime , a dentist from Omaha , Nebraska . He too spoke in many of the same terms you read in this article , but he only had Silver Nitrate to work with . The combined extra strength flouride varnish with the silver solution , both stabilized , are finally a treatment that I feel allows me to actually treat the caries infection , not just restore the destruction from the disease . And I believe that is why we no longer have to use it as “ off label .” On Oct . 30 , 2016 , the FDA awarded Elevate Advantage Arrest with the “ Breakthrough Therapy Designation ,” as a potentially lifesaving therapy for arresting caries ... an unprecedented designation for any dental treatment ever .
n Continues on pg . 27
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 15