EC Dental Science

Challenging the status quo: The persistent resistance to the medical model of caries management by dental fraternity across the globe

Dental caries is one of the most common health challenges mankind suffers from. It is caused by the interaction between acidogenic and aciduric bacteria in the mouth and sugars/carbohydrates from edibles. The bacteria produce acid that causes breach in the protective enamel on teeth, leading to cavities. Since GV Black’s days, dental caries has been treated through drilling out the carious tissue and restoring it with some biomaterial. Researchers termed it a ‘surgical model’ of caries treatment. It was, in fact, based on late clinical interception by the dental clinicians considering caries as an irreversible process of hard tissue damage and instead of treating caries, merely cavities were being treated

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