[How useful is restorative care in the primary dentition?]

Too many children develop carious lesions and many such lesions progress into a dentine carious lesion. In 2010, the percentage of dentine carious lesions in the primary dentition of 6-year-old Dutch children that were restored was less than 50 per cent. Owing to research, the necessity to restore dentine carious lesions routinely has been called into question. Current understanding of cariologic principles point in the direction of a causal treatment that is based on cleaning accessible dentine carious cavities and those that can be made accessible, possibly supported by the application of silver diamine fluoride. The ultimate goal of a restoration in the primary dentition is to make it possible to remove biofilm from the tooth surface and to prevent infection of the pulp. If restoration in primary teeth is necessary, dental practitioners will, in order to prevent the development of dental anxiety, first have to consider whether it is feasible to place restorations in an atraumatic manner, for example by means of the ART method or the Hall technique.