[Non-restorative cavity treatment: from guidelines to the practice]

The new KIMO guidelines ‘Oral Health Care for Children’ approach caries as a behavioural related disease and unequivocally assign priority to causal caries treatment, emphasising lifestyle and behavioural changes. The 5-step concept of non-restorative caries treatment (NRCT) is recommended as treatment of choice for cavitated dentine lesions in primary dentition. Communicative aspects of NRCT are supported by limited technical interventions, for the purpose of effective oral care. A balance between aetiological and symptomatic treatment is sought for each child individually, in close cooperation with the parents. Technical aspects per tooth range from limited interventions like making cavities accessible for brushing, applying fluoride varnish or SDF, covering the cavity with a layer of glass ionomer cement to treatment like ART restoration or the Hall technique, in cases of necessity. Lifestyle changes lead to sustainable treatment results and enhance the quality of life of the child or young person.