A recent study published in 'Journal of Dentistry' aimed to systematically review the clinical studies investigating the efficacy of self-assembling peptides (SAP) in remineralization of initial caries lesions states that SAP could be a viable option in achieving efficient remineralization of caries lesions.

The prospective controlled, (non)-randomized trials were searched without time and language filters on Ovid EMBASE, Central and PubMed to find studies investigating the efficacy of SAP in comparison to placebo or standard control treatment. Grade Profiler 3.6 and Risk of Bias 2.0 tool were used for grading the level of evidence and risk of bias.

A total of 7 randomized controlled trials, five with a split-mouth and two with a parallel-arm design, including 294 affected patients (508 teeth), were identified. Meta-analysis was carried out for SAP (plus fluoride varnish) vs no treatment (plus fluoride varnish) (control treatment). The SAP showed significantly greater optical improvements than the control arm. The reported outcomes were visual analog scale, laser fluorescence, ICDAS score or morphometric measurements as presented in the table below:

Concluding, the present analysis showed SAP is effective in the remineralization of enamel caries, but the interpretation should be carried out carefully due to a limited availability of the evidence.