SIGN, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network recently launched updated guidance on dental interventions to prevent caries in children (SIGN guideline 138).

The guideline replaces SIGN guideline 47 on preventing dental caries in children at high-caries risk and SIGN guideline 83 on prevention and management of dental decay in the pre-school child. The guideline provides recommendations based on current evidence for best practice in dental interventions to prevent caries in children aged 0-18 years carried out by dental care teams within dental practices in Scotland.

The guideline focuses on advice or interventions that are applied at an individual rather than a population level. The full guideline and quick reference guide can be downloaded from the SIGN website www.sign.ac.uk.

A commentary on the guideline will appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal.