Interventions
caries, HT
CARIES, CAVITY, CARIES
After a clinical and radiographic examination, the teeth of the children who met the eligibility criteria, i.e., those with multi-surface cavities lesions, were randomly allocated into two parallel groups: teeth with resin composite restoration or teeth treated with the Hall technique. The trial setting was private and public dental offices.A total of 20 operators, specialists in pediatric dentistry, one from each city (except for Manaus, Brasília, and Goiânia, which had two operators each), participated in all stages of the children’s evaluation and intervention. They underwent theoretical-practical training for both interventions in Campinas/SP. The training included a theoretical-laboratory class that covered the ICDAS (International Caries Detection and Assessment System) classification, as well as the step-by-step process of resin composite restoration (RC) and crown installation. It comprised three hours of theoretical and laboratory classes and four hours of clinical treatment of patients with characteristics similar to those of the eligible children. Each operator treated one RC patient and one HT patient, resulting in a total of thirty-eight treated patients. Operators were evaluated based on the accuracy of their diagnoses and their adherence to the treatment protocol specified for each treatment. Before the interventions were performed, participant’s socioeconomic data, the characteristics of the teeth included (jaw and tooth – first or second molar), and the cavity volume of the teeth were recorded individually. The socioeconomic data were collected by the dentist with a questionnaire, which included only variables such as gender and age. The cavity volume was considered the multiplication of the mesiodistal, occlusal-cervical, and buccolingual/palatal measurements.Participants with teeth allocated to the restoration with RC group initially received dental prophylaxis, local anesthesia, and rubber-dam isolation. Selective caries removal to soft dentin was then performed. Etching with 37% phosphoric acid (Condac 37, FGM; Joinville, BRA) was performed for 15 s for both the enamel and dentin, followed by the application of the two-step etch-and-rinse adhesive system (Adper Single BondParticipants with teeth allocated to the Hall technique (HT) group were treated according to a previously published protocol.X-rays of all teeth were performed immediately after the intervention and 6 and 12 months similarly. All participants received oral hygiene and diet instructions (mainly based on a reduction in the frequency of sugar intake). Other teeth with intervention needs were treated by the operators but were not included in the study.