Caries risk reduction in patients attending a caries management clinic

Background: A Caries Management Clinic was established for patients at high risk of caries aiming to reduce caries incidence to close to zero. That is, to prevent new lesions on existing sound surfaces, along the susceptible restoration margins, and to remineralize existing cavitated and non‐cavitated lesions. Twenty patients attended the clinic every two weeks from April to December 2005. Methods: The Caries Management System is a ten‐step non‐invasive strategy to arrest and remineralize early lesions and includes consideration of the patient at risk, the status of each individual lesion, patient management, clinical management, and monitoring. Results: After six months, there was a 42 per cent increase in gingival sites having Gingival Index scores of zero, and a 21 per cent decrease in sites having Gingival Index scores of 2 compared to baseline (χ² = 137.67, 4 df, p = 0.00001). Ready to change (RTC) patients had significantly fewer sites scored GI ≤ 2 compared to not‐RTC patients (p = 0.01). Compared with the not‐RTC patients, RTC patients were more than twice as likely to have fewer sites scored GI ≤ 2 (RR = 2.43, 95% CI (1.24, 4.71), p = 0.01). A total of 100 out of 146 smooth non‐cavitated carious surfaces at baseline have remineralized after six months, 99 per cent of sound surfaces remained sound, and 23 new lesions were observed in six of the 20 patients (α² = 292, 7 df, p = 0.00001). About half of proximal surfaces showing bitewing scores of grade 1 or 2 had regressed (α² = 86.66, 56 df, p = 0.0001) and 95 per cent of proximal sound surfaces at baseline, as diagnosed via bitewing radiographs, remained sound. Conclusions: This audit revealed that the implementation of the non‐invasive approach to caries management which combined intensive coaching in oral hygiene maintenance, special home care and intensive monitoring in a clinic for high‐risk patients was able to reduce gingival inflammation and maintain low plaque levels, at least within the scope of this short‐term review.