Parental Acceptance of Silver Diamine Fluoride Compared to Advanced Behavior Management Techniques

Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) is a non-surgical caries management, serving as an alternative to surgical caries management that often requires advanced behavior guidance in young children. We investigated parental acceptance of SDF and three advanced behavior management techniques. We conducted a pre-post survey among a convenience sample of 90 parents from four different dental clinics. We collected demographic information, and parents rated the acceptability of four dental techniques after viewing a video demonstration of them, both before and after a presentation of the dental treatment outcomes associated with each technique. Without the context of dental treatment outcomes, SDF was more acceptable than protective stabilization, general anesthesia, and conscious sedation. However, in the context of dark SDF-stained teeth, SDF treatment was less preferable than all three advanced behavior management techniques. Parents still considered SDF treatment acceptable, but the esthetics of the treatment were a detriment to overall SDF acceptability.Master of Scienc