Dental caries prevention programs for adults have included a variety of preventive regimens since the 1970s. Intensive topical fluoride applications, oral hygiene instruction, and monitoring have been shown to be effective in preventing and arresting dental caries in high risk patients for more than 25 years (1–4). The Caries Management System (CMS) was implemented at the University of Sydney, School of Dentistry student clinics in 2017. The effectiveness of CMS is promoting preventive management of caries has not been evaluated in this setting. This study will show caries risk reduction in Medium/high risk patients who are receiving treatment under caries management system in a public hospital.
100 Medium/high caries risk patients was analysed at baseline and at a 6 months recall.
A questionnaire collected data about age, gender, region of origin, medical history, past dental history, smoking, fluoride, oral hygiene and diet is assessed via 24hr snacking history questionnaire. Caries experience was recorded using the International Caries Detection and Diagnostic System (ICDAS) and bitewing radiographic (B/W) assessment criteria.Oral hygiene status was assessed using the Plaque Index (PI). SPSS 24.0 was used for Statistical analysis.Results showed that baseline initial carious lesions (ICDAS code 2 and 3 and B/W Code 1 and code 2) was not visible when compared with 6 months data.Within a matter of months, factors that have a bearing on the creation of a favorable oral environment can be activated and result in substantial reductions in risk of caries incidence and progression. This favorable outcome occurred in patients who, prior to their entry to the CMS, were medium/high risk. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the adoption of this approach to caries management more generally would decrease caries incidence and prevalence in the population.