Survival of Fuji IX ART fillings in permanent teeth of primary school children in Tanzania.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical performance of atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) fillings using Fuji IX as a filling material in field conditions.

Design: Longitudinal study of the ART fillings in permanent teeth of primary school children aged eight to fifteen years.

Setting: Primary schools in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania.

Subjects And Methods: Standard 3 and 4 children in five primary schools randomly selected from a list of 36 primary schools of Morogoro municipality were examined for dental caries and periodontal conditions. All 296 carious lesions that were indicated for restoration were treated using ART approach according to the instructions given in the manual for ART approach for the control of dental caries. Essential measurements for treated teeth and cavity were taken. The cavities were filled with Fuji IX glass ionomer cement as per manufacturer's instructions. After one year, 238 restorations were evaluated using the criteria for evaluating ART restorations.

Main Outcome Measure: Clinical appearance of the surface of the restorations.

Results: Ninety four per cent of the restorations evaluated were rated as good and intact, while 1.7% were rated as having slight defects that needed no repair, giving a one year survival rate of 96.1%. Mean working time was 14.5 minutes.

Conclusions And Recommendations: The one-year survival rate of 96.1% is high enough to recommend wide use of ART in Tanzania. Town and municipal councils should be encouraged to adopt ART in their school oral health programmes.