Aim:

This study pretends to compare the clinical and microbiological effectiveness of three techniques for the elimination of carious tissue in children aged 4 to 8 years old.

Methods:

Fifty-seven primary teeth were analyzed. Group I: traditional technique (19 teeth), Group II: Brix (18 teeth), Group III: Papacarie (20 teeth). The data for clinical evaluation (need for anesthesia and running time) were recorded in each case history. Before and after the operative procedure, samples were taken from the carious lesion with sterile micro brush, transported in thioglycollate to quantitatively analyze the total bacteria present per milliliter, using blood agar cultures (Columbia base). Information was tabulated and statistically analyzed using Analysis of Variance, Tukey’s and Chi Square tests, establishing p≤0.05 as the criterion of significance.

Results:

The difference on number of bacteria between group I (41.22 ± 4.45), and groups II and III (65.96 ± 4.33, 83.45 ± 4.57), revealed that group I was less effective. Groups II and III did not require the use of anesthesia, the difference being significant in the group of pre-school children (4 and 5 years old). The execution time for each technique was faster in group I (2.12 min ± 0.15) p˂0.0001.

Conclusions:

Techniques that use some chemical agents allow a greater elimination of bacteria during the removal of carious tissue, without resorting to anesthesia, can be recommended as an alternative to traditional treatment especially in young children.

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