Minimally Invasive Intervention for Primary Caries Lesions: Are Dentists Implementing This Concept?

Area of Science:

• Dentistry
• Dental Public Health

Background:

• Minimally invasive treatment concepts for primary caries lesions emphasize delayed intervention and conservative cavity preparations.
• These approaches aim to preserve tooth structure and extend the longevity of restorations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate trends in dentists' treatment thresholds and restorative techniques for primary caries lesions.
• To determine if contemporary minimally invasive concepts have influenced clinical practice globally.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from previously conducted, precoded questionnaires (Espelid and Tveit).
• Inclusion of results from a recent Dutch national survey on caries treatment practices.
• Comparative analysis of questionnaire data to identify trends over time and across different countries.

Main Results:

• No worldwide trend towards more conservative operative treatment initiation or preparation techniques for caries lesions was observed.
• Norway showed a reduction in interventions for both occlusal and approximal lesions, indicating delayed treatment.
• A significant association was found in the Dutch survey: early intervention for approximal caries correlated with early intervention for occlusal caries.
• Composite resin has largely replaced amalgam as the restorative material for primary caries lesions globally.

Conclusions:

• Dentists globally tend to intervene operatively at an earlier stage of caries than recommended, despite variations between countries.
• While a global shift to minimally invasive operative strategies is not evident, specific countries like Norway demonstrate a move towards delayed intervention.
• A clear worldwide shift in restorative material preference from amalgam to composite resin for primary caries is confirmed.