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Preventive management of carious lesions: from non-invasive to micro-invasive operative interventions

British Dental Journal volume 236, pages 603–610 (2024)Cite this article

Abstract

Understanding that dental carious lesions occur as a result of the action of micro-organisms in the dental plaque biofilm, where demineralisation on the tooth surface is the first sign of the disease, such incipient lesions can be treated using preventive, non-operative and minimally invasive operative dentistry. If the caries process is left unmanaged, the lesions progress towards cavitation, leading to more invasive treatments. This article discusses the principles of preventive, non-invasive and micro-invasive treatments of early carious lesions, outlining the clinical situations where these therapies can be applied.

Key points

  • This publication attempts to show products and interventions that may be useful when managing patients with early carious lesions.

  • Clinical procedures are divided into non-invasive and micro-invasive, for personal or professional use.

  • Clinical cases use fluorescent or infrared cameras as diagnostic and surgical aids.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole de Médecine Dentaire de Marseille, Université d’Aix-Marseille, 13385 Marseille, France; Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix-Marseille Université, MEPHI, AP-HM, 19–21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille, CEDEX 05, France; LBN, Université de Montpellier, UR-UM104, Montpellier, France

    Hervé Tassery

  2. Department of Endodontics and Restorative Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb, Gunduliceva ul. 5, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

    Ivana Miletic

  3. Department of Restorative Dentistry, Ege University School of Dentistry, Izmir 35040, Turkey

    Lezize Sebnem Turkun

  4. Dental Biomaterials and Minimally Invasive Dentistry, Department of Dentistry, CEU Cardenal Herrera University, CEU Universities, 46115 Valencia, Spain; Department of Therapeutic Dentistry, I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia

    Salvatore Sauro

  5. Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Hacettepe University, Ankara 06100, Turkey

    Sevil Gurgan

  6. Conservative and Minimally Invasive Dentistry, Centre of Oral Clinical Translational Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, King´s College London, London, SE1 9RT, UK

    Avijit Banerjee

  7. Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University of Milano, Via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milano, Italy

    Matteo Basso

  8. Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix-Marseille Université, MEPHI, AP-HM, 19–21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille, CEDEX 05, France

    Saber Khelafia

  9. Ecole de Médecine Dentaire de Marseille, Université d’Aix-Marseille, 13385 Marseille, France; Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix-Marseille Université, MEPHI, AP-HM, 19–21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille, CEDEX 05, France

    Elodie Terrer & Virginie Pilliol

  10. LBN, Université de Montpellier, UR-UM104, Montpellier, France; Faculté d’Odontologie, Université de Montpellier, 34193 Montpellier, France

    Amel Slimani

Authors
  1. Hervé Tassery
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  2. Ivana Miletic
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  3. Lezize Sebnem Turkun
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  4. Salvatore Sauro
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  5. Sevil Gurgan
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  7. Matteo Basso
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  8. Saber Khelafia
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  9. Elodie Terrer
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  10. Virginie Pilliol
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  11. Amel Slimani
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Contributions

Hervé Tassery and Ivana Miletic are joint first co-authors and contributed equally to this manuscript. Conceptualisation: Amel Slimani, Ivana Miletic and Hervé Tassery. Writing - original draft: Amel Slimani, Ivana Miletic and Hervé Tassery. Writing - review and editing: Amel Slimani, Salvatore Sauro, Sevil Gurgan, Lezize Sebnem Turkun, Ivana Miletic, Avijit Banerjee, Saber Khelafia, Matteo Basso, Elodie Terrer, Virginie Pilliol and Hervé Tassery. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hervé Tassery.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Avijit Banerjee, Associate Editor, was not involved in the peer review process of this manuscript.

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Tassery, H., Miletic, I., Turkun, L. et al. Preventive management of carious lesions: from non-invasive to micro-invasive operative interventions. Br Dent J 236, 603–610 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-024-7292-0

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