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Non-surgical management of dental caries

4 mins read Oral health and mouth cancer
In order to be useful systematic reviews need to include valid randomised control trials. Unfortunately, there is no ‘gold standard’ for measuring the validity of a trial and although tools exist, they are not perfect. This systematic review used three methods to assess the quality of each trial and found a large variation in the score of each depending on the method used, hence, questioning the accuracy of the tools available to assess dental trials such as these.

One of the hot topics in our profession at the moment is without a doubt minimally invasive dentistry. From incomplete caries removal to prevention, we are working to conserve tooth structure more than ever before.

In the past, operative care was the central strategy for the management of dental caries in general dental practice; however, with plans to change NHS remuneration in the future, preventative dentistry is sure to come to the forefront of general dental care. But does it actually work? Can we arrest or even reverse dental caries once it has started?

This month’s research article is a systematic review of evidence related to the ability of nonsurgical caries preventive methods to arrest or reverse the progression of non-cavitated carious lesions. Systematic reviews in dentistry, rather than carrying out studies or trials of their own, collate and critically appraise all evidence already available surrounding a particular area of dentistry. Hence, when carried out well, they are an excellent way of assessing the efficacy of a new technique.

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