Dental caries is a multifactorial disease which
affects all age bar in different segments of society. With
the burden of high-risk caries different approach have
been advocated to manage the untreated lesions with
affordable cost and noninvasive procedures. The aim of
the study is to compare the antibacterial effect of silver
diamine fluoride and sodium fluoride varnish. The colony
forming units at baseline and after 3 days shows reduction
in both the groups. Therefore, significant reduction was
seen more in SDF compared to NaF group. After 6
months of reapplication of SDF and NaF varnish, the
mean reduction seen in the S.mutans count was significant
in both the groups. At the end of 6 months, when the
intergroup significance was considered, significant
reduction was observed in the group of subjects who
received SDF application when compared to the group of
subjects who received fluoride varnish. It was concluded
that there is a reduction in the S. mutans count in both the
groups after SDF and NaF application. SDF was shown to
produce significant reduction. Due to the greater
antibacterial efficacy of SDF, it can be used as an effective
topical fluoride agent for caries prevention.