Are Dentists Drilling Teeth When They Don't Need To?

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Dental News
The University of Sydney (Australia) Dental School just concluded a three-year controlled trial and concluded that many private practice dentists persist drilling and filling tooth surfaces which have the capacity to heal, leading to repeated and costly dental treatment, despite over 30 years of research implying the contrary.

The controlled trial found that a non-invasive program was effective in reducing the incidence of new and recurrent decay over the three years of the study by more than 40 percent. These results were independent of age, gender, medical status, fluoride history, or previous history of dental caries, in a population of patients attending for treatment in private dental practices. Further, it appears in patients categorized at medium to high risk of developing dental decay, that the program was reasonably cost-effective when compared to existing dental care practice.

The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to review the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a non-invasive approach to the management of dental caries within a variety of private dental practices in Australia.

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