Table 3 Major characteristics of the included studies
Study | Study design | Setting (deep dentinal lesion in primary/ permanent teeth) | Setting (human dentine blocks) | Inclusion/exclusion criteria | Test Microbes | Antimicrobial agents | No. of primary/ permanent teeth dentin blocks | Test & control group | Study Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In vivo studies | |||||||||
 Karched et al., 2019 | In vivo study | ✓ | - | ✓ | Streptococcus mutans | -38% Silver diamine fluoride -SDF/KI -2%CHX (+ve control) | 25 permanent teeth | - | Evaluation after 48 hours of incubation |
 Milgrom et al., 2018 | RCT- double blind placebo-controlled | ✓ | - | ✓ | Wide array of bacterial taxa (RNA sequencing) | -38% Silver diamine fluoride | 6 primary teeth (2-caries lesion + 1-unaffected surface) (multi species) | - | Evaluation post SDF 14-21 days |
 Mitwalli et al., 2019 | RCT | ✓ | - | ✓ | Wide array of bacterial taxa through DNA sequencing | -38% Silver diamine fluoride | 20 permanent teeth (multi species) | - | Evaluation post SDF 4 weeks |
In vitro studies | |||||||||
 Mei et al., 2013 | In vitro study | - | ✓ | ✓ | Streptococcus mutans Streptococcus sobrinus Lactobacillus acidophilus Lactobacillus rhamnosus Actinomyces naeslundii | 38% Silver diamine fluoride | Seventy- two dentin blocks (Biofilm model- mixed culture) | ✓ | Evaluation after 7, 14 and 21 days |
 Chu et al., 2012 | In vitro study | - | ✓ | ✓ | Streptococcus mutans Actinomyces naeslundii | 38% Silver diamine fluoride | Thirty-two dentin blocks (Biofilm model- mixed culture) | ✓ | Evaluation after 7 days |
 Mei et al., 2013(a) | In vitro study | - | ✓ | ✓ | Streptococcus mutans Lactobacillus acidophilus | 38% Silver diamine fluoride | Thirty dentin blocks (Biofilm model- mixed culture) | ✓ | Evaluation after 7 days |
 Hamama et al., 2015 | In vitro study | - | ✓ | ✓ | Streptococcus mutans | -Silver diamine fluoride/potassium iodide (SDF/KI) -Chlorhexidine (CHX) + SDF/KI | 45 dentin blocks (Biofilm model-single species) | X | Evaluation after 5 minutes of dentine disc treatment |
 Besinis et al., 2014 | In vitro study | - | ✓ | ✓ | Streptococcus mutans | -Nanosilver (AgNPs) -Silver nitrate (AgNO3) -Chlorhexidine | 48, coronal dentin discs (Biofilm model-single species) | ✓ | Evaluation after 24-hours |