Clinical evaluation of two minimal interventional restorative approaches: chemo-mechanical and mechanical (ART)

This study compared the clinical performance of two minimally invasive restorative treatment methods: chemo-mechanical [Carisolv'TM'-MediTeam (CM)] and mechanical [Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART)] for managing dental caries. Using a split-mouth design, the methods were tested randomly in 50 matched pairs of permanent teeth. A total of 50 pregnant women (2nd trimester of pregnancy) were treated. The outcome variables were: efficacy and efficiency of caries removal, acceptability and perception of the methods by pregnant women and operators. In both methods, the cavities were restored using the ART approach with high-viscous glass ionomer cement (Ketac Molar/3M ESPE). The restorations were evaluated by 2 calibrated independent examiners according to ART criteria, after 1 and 4 years. The inter examiner kappa was 0.97 and 0.89, respectively. Pearson correlation, 95% Confidence Interval and Student's, Chi-square, Fischer's and Wilcoxon tests were used for data analysis (p < 0.05). The results showed there were no significant differences for efficacy and efficiency of carious dentin removal, as well as for patients' acceptability, using both methods. A statistically significant difference regarding the feasibility of techniques in favour of the CM method was observed. In the ART method, 97.6% (CI=87.4-99.9%) of the restorations were judged to be successful at 1 year and 84.2% (IC=66.5-92.5%) at 4 years. The 1 and 4-year success for CM method was 100% (CI=91.8-100%) and 87.1% (CI=72.6-95.7%), respectively. The success rate for both methods was not statistically significant after 1 (p=0.49) and 4 (p=0.75) years. It is concluded from the results that both methods showed good efficacy, efficiency and acceptability in treating of the pregnant women. Operator's data revealed the CM method as being a more feasible approach than ART. The two minimal intervention restorative approaches showed similar performance after 1 and 4 years in pregnant women.