Caries management strategies by risk assessment-prevention and treatment

Abstract

Traditional caries management consisted of the detection of carious lesions followed by immediate restoration. Placing a restoration doesn't guarantee a sound future for the tooth. On the contrary, it will be the start of the restoration cycle in which the restorationwill be replaced several times. So a different management strategy is recommended. Based on a proper diagnosis of caries taken into an account, thedynamics and the activity of the caries should be determined. Caries risk should be determined before treatment is considered. The treatment goals in caries management should be to prevent new lesions from forming and to detect lesions sufficiently early in the process so that they can be treated and arrested by non-operative means. Such management requires skill and are time consuming. Best practices dictate that once the clinician has identified the patient's caries risk, therapeutic and preventive plan should be implemented to prevent the pathological challenge posed by the caries risk factors. This article reviews the caries management strategies in prevention and treatment.