Effectiveness of Hall Technique for Primary Carious Molars: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: To assess the outcomes of Hall Technique (HT) on primary carious molars and compared it with the conventional dental restorations.

Methods: A systematic review was registered with Prospero registry [CRD42015020445] to answer the following research question: Is HT a better restorative option compared to other techniques for restoration of carious primary molars? In addition to exploring various health sciences databases, hand search was also done using following key terms in different permutations: [Hall technique OR Hall’s technique OR preformed metal crown OR stainless steel crown] AND [caries OR carious molar OR deciduous tooth OR baby tooth OR milk tooth OR primary tooth]. The outcomes of interest was success of the restoration achieved with either method.

Results: Five studies were included (two RCTs, one quasi-experimental trial and two retrospective). A total of 1775 teeth were assessed of which 1325 teeth were restored using HT. The retrospective studies showed no difference between HT and other methods whereas the RCTs and quasi-experimental favored HT over other treatment modalities. Meta-analysis significantly favoured HT over conventional restorations [risk ratio 5.55 (3.31-9.30) (p-value=<0.001).

Conclusions: HT appeared demonstrated higher success and significantly outperformed the conventional restorations.