Policy on the Use of Silver Diamine Fluoride for Pediatric Dental Patients

Purpose

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recognizes that dental caries continues to be a prevalent and severe disease in children. This policy addresses the use of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) as part of an ongoing caries management plan with the aim of optimizing individualized patient care consistent with the goals of a dental home. When SDF is indicated, it is essential that the infants, children, adolescents, or individuals with special health care needs receive a comprehensive dental examination, diagnosis, and plan of ongoing disease management prior to placement of the material. The dental profession has long viewed dental caries as an acute disease condition requiring surgical debridement, cavity preparation, and mechanical restoration of the tooth, but increasingly, especially for the infant and child population, practitioners are utilizing individually tailored strategies to prevent, arrest, or ameliorate the disease process based on caries risk assessment. One of these strategies employs application of SDF as an antimicrobial and remineralization agent to arrest caries lesions after diagnosis and at the direction of a responsible dentist of record.