General Dentistry

  • New advances offering greater predictability
  • CaMBRA, Caries Management By Risk Assessment
  • Evidence based systematic approach to patient care

Dental caries is reportedly the most common chronic disease known to man. MID (Minimal Intervention Dentistry) has advanced dentistry greatly, enabling dentists to cut smaller cavity preparations conserving more natural tooth structure. The other paradigm shift taking place is the wide-spread understanding that drilling and filling cavities is not sufficient in treating this disease.

New advances and research now offer dentists a systematic approach to better diagnose the caries disease and then correct the bacterial imbalance that leads to tooth decay. This new system is often referred to as CaMBRA, Caries Management By Risk Assessment.

The Californian Dental Association reported that, ”CaMBRA is a unique approach to dentistry that helps dentists assess the risk for cavities and other oral health problems, is the first of its kind to move dentistry toward a medical model of preventative care”. The CariFree System is the first systematic approach that allows dentists to simply apply CaMBRA to their patients.

The latest caries research has identified a number of key concepts:

  • The caries infection is not pathogen specific, it is a biofilm disease and currently there are more than 30 identified bacterial species implicated in the disease process.
  • pH is the strongest “selection pressure” that determines whether these cariogenic strains are present at pathogenic levels.
  • Key risk factors can determine a patients’ susceptibility to this infection or bacterial imbalance.

A new level of understanding:

Dr. John Kois states that “caries risk assessment identifies patients at risk for dental caries even before they have expressed the disease and best targets treatment for those patients that have already expressed the disease. We need to find ways, like CariFree, to help our patients move from the repair model to the wellness model.”

Solutions for your practice

  • Establish a simple evidence based risk assessment protocol that can be easily incorporated within your examination process.
  • You already identify patients who are susceptible to the caries disease, those patients who have cavities. Determine what recommendation can be made in addition to the restorative work to treat and correct the underlying bacterial imbalance.
  • Take a look at the products you currently recommend and confirm if they treat the underlying infection or just repair or remineralize the damaged site.
  • Consider the pH of any oral healthcare products that the patient may use and its effect on the oral environment.