Dental caries is the most prevalent oral disease in children worldwide. It severely compromises the quality of life of children and their families. The cost of treating dental caries and its complications place a heavy financial burden on individuals, families and society. Minimal intervention dentistry (MID) is a philosophy of care that aims to conserve tooth tissues throughout a person’s life. It is an effective treatment approach with increasing acceptance among dental professionals. The MID management approach is highly applicable to child patients as it is friendly, reduces patient anxiety, improves patient behaviors and offers health-oriented treatment options. This MOOC will present the rationale and application of MID for preventing and managing dental caries in children, using evidence-based information whenever available.

What is this course about?

This course enables dental practitioners to apply the concept of prevention and management of dental caries in the child patients by caries risk assessment. It will cover the basic principles in the early detection and control of the dental caries process. The course will describe the methods for remineralization of non-cavitated lesions as well as the different options for conservative management of enamel and dentine carious lesions using minimally invasive techniques. The final part of the module will address the implementation of MID concept and treatments in the general dental practice.