Abstract
BackgroundDental caries is a significant public health problem in Iran. Teaching minimally invasive interventions in paediatric dentistry may facilitate the provision of treatment for untreated dental caries in children. We evaluated the teaching of such interventions in both undergraduate dental curriculum and Paediatric Dentistry Specialty Training Programme (PDSTP) in Iran.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey. Participants in this study were the directors of 40 undergraduate programmes and 15 PDSTPs in all Iranian dental schools (response rate = 100%). Descriptive statistics were reported.ResultsThe most commonly taught methods were preventive fissure sealant and preventive resin restoration (PRR), which were taught ‘both didactically and clinically’ in all undergraduate dental programmes. The least commonly taught methods were silver diamine fluoride (SDF), the Hall technique and resin infiltration, which were taught ‘both didactically and clinically’ in less than 5% of dental schools. The same three methods were the least commonly approaches taught in PDSTP, further, they were less often perceived to be ‘essential’.ConclusionsThere was a notable variation in the teaching of the management of dental caries in Iran’s dental education. Some minimally invasive approaches including SDF, the Hall technique and resin infiltration are not being commonly taught in Iranian dental schools despite the evidence base for these techniques.
Highlights
Dental caries is a significant public health problem in Iran
Incorporating the categories in this framework, we identified a number of interventions for managing dental caries and carious lesions following consultation with paediatrics dentists and dental public health academics
This study demonstrates a notable variation in the teaching of minimally invasive interventions for the management of dental caries and carious lesions in Iran’s dental education
Summary
Teaching minimally invasive interventions in paediatric dentistry may facilitate the provision of treatment for untreated dental caries in children. We evaluated the teaching of such interventions in both undergraduate dental curriculum and Paediatric Dentistry Specialty Training Programme (PDSTP) in Iran. Dental caries was historically believed to be an infectious disease and dental professionals based treatment on the principle that removal of all infected carious tooth tissue was required to halt caries progression [1]. In the light of recent advances in cariology, there has been a paradigm shift in the management of dental caries from the non-selective complete removal of infected tissue. Minimal intervention dentistry (MID) is defined as ‘a holistic management philosophy that integrates carious lesion control and minimal operative intervention’. Emergence of several systematic reviews to summarise the evidence for effectiveness of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) [6] and investigating the effectiveness of minimally invasive biological techniques in a multicentre UK based clinical trial (known as FICTION study) [7] are indicative of such interest
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