Interventions
carious lesions, cavitated carious lesions, caries
CARIES
Forty-five children were randomly selected in each of the following 3 groups according to their dental status: no clinical signs of caries (ICDAS code 0 on all teeth), with only non-cavitated carious lesions (ICDAS code 2 on one or more teeth but not with ICDAS code 3 or above in any teeth) and with cavitated carious lesions with or without non-cavitated lesions (ICDAS code 3 to 6 on one or more teeth). Each group was further subdivided randomly into 3 groups with 15 children each to receive one of the 3 study fluoride varnishes: Group 1 (positive control)—5% NaF (Duraphat Varnish, Colgate-Palmolive Ltd, (UK) Ltd., Guildford, Surrey, UK), Group 2 (test)—5% NaF with TCP (Clinpro White Varnish; 3 M ESPE, St Paul, MN, USA), and Group 3 (test)—5% NaF with CPP-ACP (MI Varnish; GC Corporation, Itabashi-Ku, Tokyo, Japan). The detailed composition of the varnishes used is presented in Supplementary Table Children were planned to receive 8 applications of the assigned fluoride varnish quarterly over 24 months. However, COVID-19 pandemic led to the inability of the research team to comply with the intended fluoride varnish application protocol. As a result, total number of applications received by the children ranged from 3 to 6 due to refusal of parents for varnish applications and closure of kindergartens.