Eficácia da aplicação tópica de flúor no controle da cárie da primeira infância: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review of literature about the efficacy of topical application of fluoride in controling early childhood caries. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was carried out in electronic databases such as: LILACS, IBECS, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, SciELO and PubMed, from August 2015 to January 2016. The descriptors used in Portuguese and English were: tooth decay , child , deciduous tooth , efficacy and topical fluorides.The selection criterium was: a randomized clinical trial. RESULTS: Electronic research resulted in 96 articles, and 17 out of these were duplicates. Ten studies were evaluated critically by meet the selection criteria. Among them, four were excluded and only six articles were included in this systematic review . CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that topical application of substances containing fluoride is effective in the control and prevention of early childhood caries . Highlighting that the preventive effect of topical applications is in addition to factors such as: supply access to fluoridated drinking water and access to toothpaste containing fluoride with the appropriate concentration for each age. It is noteworthy that the decrease in increments of decay is dependent on the risk of caries presented by the individual, since not show significantly effective results in populations at high risk for disease.