Assessment of Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) on the permanent dentition in a primary care setting in Nigeria

Objectives: To assess the acceptability of ART and to evaluate on a longitudinal basis the survival rate of single surface occlusal ART restorations in the permanent dentition. Design: Longitudinal Study of ART restorations. Setting: Primary Oral Health Care Setting. Participants: Aged 8-19 years in a low socioeconomic community, Southwestern Nigeria. Interventions/methods: Ninety-three ART restorations were applied on single surface occlusal caries by a dentist who had undergone training on ART. Main outcome measures: Six monthly follow-up of patients to evaluate restoration retention and marginal defect was conducted by an independent evaluator. Results: Over 90.0% of the subjects had never undergone dental treatment, yet 63.0% perceived dental treatment as painful. After undergoing the treatment as many as 98.0% admitted that ART was not painful. On the question of their willingness to make recall visits, about 95.0% responded in the affirmative and about 96.0% reported that they would encourage others to come for treatment. The cumulative survival rate of single surface occlusal ART restorations after 2 years was 93.5% (SE = 2.3%). Conclusions: ART was shown to be acceptable and effective in the management of single surface occlusal caries in the permanent dentition in these Nigerian children and adolescents outside the traditional clinical setting.