Effect of professional application of APF foam on caries reduction in permanent first molars in 6-7-year-old children: 24-month clinical trial.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of 6-monthly professional application of APF foam on caries reduction in permanent first molars in 6-7-year-old children over 24 months, and to compare the caries-preventive effect between APF foam and APF gel.

Methods: In a randomised controlled trial, 661 children aged 6-7-years-old were randomly divided into three groups on a school class basis. The foam group and the gel group received 6-monthly APF foam and APF gel application, respectively, and the control group did not receive any treatment.

Results: The mean caries increment of smooth surfaces of permanent first molars in the foam group was 0.16 while that of the control group was 0.27, resulting in 41% caries reduction (P-value=0.02), but there was no statistically significant difference between the foam group and the gel group (P-value=0.10). No difference was found on the mean caries increment of pit and fissure surfaces or all surfaces among the three groups (ANOVA, P-value=0.89).

Conclusion: Six-monthly professional application of APF foam could effectively reduce the incidence of dental caries in smooth surfaces of permanent first molars in 6-7-year-old children, which was similar to APF gel.