Integrated Dentist-Nurse Collaborative Care Model for Caries Management in China

Dental caries, as a common chronic disease with high global prevalence, has undergone a paradigm shift from a traditional treatment-oriented model to a management approach focused on controlling caries risk factors while implementing personalized preventive and therapeutic measures. Confronted with limited medical resources and the additional workload imposed by long-term caries management, the Integrated Dentist-Nurse Collaborative Care Model emerges as a potentially effective pathway to address these challenges. Through task-shifting and collaboration, this model leverages the pivotal role of dental nurses in prevention, assessment, health education, and follow-up management, which may enhance the efficiency of healthcare services. This article elaborates the approaches of implementing the Dentist-Nurse Collaborative Care Model in caries management in China. This includes dental nurse-led health education and assessment conducted before and after treatment, where behavioral guidance is utilized to enhance patients' self-management capabilities. During the clinical stage, dentists and dental nurses collaborate to advance both caries risk management and caries lesion management, formulating personalized plans based on caries risk assessment and treatment difficulty assessment. In the continuity of care phase, through long-term follow-up and plan adjustments, dentists and dental nurses work together to maintain patients' oral health, ultimately achieving a fundamental transition from single-episode treatment to comprehensive long-term caries management.