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A scoping literature review on minimum intervention dentistry for children with dental caries

British Dental Journal (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Background Dental caries in children's permanent teeth remains a global burden. In contrast to the traditional approach of treating the disease through surgical operative intervention, minimum intervention has increasingly been recommended for managing children with dental caries.

Aim This scoping review aimed to describe the literature related to the provision of minimum intervention dentistry for children with caries and to identify research gaps.

Methods Electronic databases (Medline via Ovid, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus) were searched, together with grey literature databases, and key organisation websites. Data was extracted on a piloted extraction template and a thematic analysis was undertaken.

Results Sixty-seven relevant articles were identified. No empirical literature was identified that assessed a complete minimum intervention care pathway to managing caries. Five themes were identified from the scoping literature: evidence base, clinician attitude and skills, practice implementation, acceptability and environmental factors.

Conclusions The majority of articles were opinion papers. There is a paucity of empirical evidence supporting the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a minimum intervention pathway for children with dental caries in primary dental care. The scoping review has identified some potential barriers to the implementation of such a care pathway, including regulatory and remunerative frameworks and clinical training/education.

Key points

  • Describes the process of carrying out a scoping review of the literature on minimum intervention dentistry for children with dental caries.

  • Describes the literature on minimum intervention dentistry and children with dental caries.

  • Suggests further research is needed to explore the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a minimum intervention dentistry care pathway for children with dental caries.

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Funding

The project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) through a Doctoral Research Fellowship. The views and opinions expressed by the authors in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NIHR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Doctoral Research Fellow, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Claremont Crescent, Sheffield, S10 2TA, UK

    Bhupinder Dawett

  2. Dean, Professor/Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Claremont Crescent, Sheffield, S10 2TA, UK

    Chris Deery

  3. Professor of Cariology and Operative Dentistry/Honorary Consultant, Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King´s College London, London, UK

    Avijit Banerjee

  4. Assistant Director, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 30 Regent St, Sheffield, S1 4DA, UK

    Diana Papaioannou

  5. Professor in Dental Public Health, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Claremont Crescent, Sheffield, S10 2TA, UK

    Zoe Marshman

Authors
  1. Bhupinder Dawett
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Contributions

BD, CD, AB, DP and ZM contributed towards the conception of the design. BD, DP and ZM contributed towards data aquistion and analysis. All authors contributed towards interpretation, drafted and critically revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bhupinder Dawett.

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Dawett, B., Deery, C., Banerjee, A. et al. A scoping literature review on minimum intervention dentistry for children with dental caries. Br Dent J (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-022-4038-8

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