Continuing Dental Education

Do you remember the thrill of your first day in dental school, or seeing your first patient? Do you remember a time when you wanted to truly help your patient prevent cavities? Where did that preventive energy go? Dentists have been fighting tooth decay with one hand tied to a mirror, the other stuck to a hand piece, one foot glued to a rheostat, and an armamentarium that never really evolved. It’s no wonder cavities continue to form as fast as we can fill them.

 Each decade has seen our understanding of dental caries change, but it still continues to be a major public health concern. Despite increased use of fluoride the prevalence of caries has not decreased.  This course offers participants an overview of caries research since the 1960s and focuses on recent advances in cariology and modern diagnostics.  Practical treatment options will be explained so dentists, hygienists, and assistants can effectively prevent caries in clinical practice.

 This course was designed to address the discrepancies associated with cariology throughout the past forty years. Dentists who graduated in 1970 were taught cariology completely differently from those who graduated in 2009. In an effort to close the gap on our modern understanding of dental caries, this innovative course will get everyone on the same page without putting them all to sleep.

At the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• Identify risk factors for high-caries-risk patients.
• Understand how to intervene medically in the caries process.
• Indicate when, where, and how to use appropriate restorative materials.
• Control rampant caries with esthetic restorations.
• Prolong the life of restorations in all patients.