Caries management: a new paradigm

In 2001, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) published its first consensus statement on the management of dental caries in response to the Surgeon General's 2000 report, Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General. Since then the dental profession has seen the introduction of evidence-based dentistry (EBD) and the classification of risk factors for dental caries, as well as the introduction of many new tools and technologies to augment current diagnostic and treatment applications. This article reviews the literature to explore dentistry's current understanding and management of dental caries. The new paradigm no longer focuses on caries detection and restoration, but on the integration of risk factors and the incorporation of new tools to facilitate early detection and potentially prevent or repair caries lesions.