Selective Caries Removal in Permanent Teeth (SCRIPT)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Selective Caries Removal in Permanent Teeth (SCRIPT): a pragmatic, primary dental care, multi-centre, single-masked, two-arm patient randomised controlled trial including an internal pilot, comparing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of Selective Caries Removal (SCR) with Complete Caries Removal (CCR) in permanent posterior teeth in participants aged 12 years and older.
IRAS ID
268742
Contact name
J Clarkson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Dundee
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN76503940
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 1 months, 28 days
Research summary
Tooth decay is very common with the majority of teenagers and adults having some decay in their back teeth. Treating tooth decay costs the NHS over £3.4 billion each year. There are different ways of treating teeth where the decay has spread deep into the tooth close to the nerve. The most common way is to take away all of the decay before placing a filling in the tooth. This is known as “complete decay removal”. Removing all the decay can result in serious damage to the nerve making root canal treatment or tooth loss (extraction) likely. Also drilling the tooth to remove all the decay can weaken the tooth so it is more likely to break and need further treatment.
There is research in children’s teeth that supports a new way of treating teeth. Some of the decay is left behind and sealed under the filling. This is known as “partial decay removal”. However, there are gaps in our knowledge about partial decay removal in adult teeth.
The SCRIPT trial will test “selective decay removal” compared to “complete decay removal” to establish if further follow-up treatment was needed, the costs incurred, the pain experienced by the patients and the impact on their lives. We aim to recruit 623 NHS dental patients over 12 years old who have deep decay in a back adult tooth across approximately 65 dental practices in England and Scotland.
These patients will be followed-up for three years using participant questionnaires and data from dentists (including copies of routinely collected x-rays) to test the success of the two ways to treat deep decay. We will also interview some dental staff and patients about their views on the two ways to treat deep decay.REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
19/NS/0177
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion