Top tips for minimally invasive dentistry in primary care

Abstract

Minimally invasive dentistry (MID) (or minimal intervention dentistry) is defined as a holistic approach which respects the dental tissues and patient's comfort and aims to help maintain long-term oral health centred around preventive, patient-focused care plans with the management of patients' needs and expectations.1,2 It recognises that caries is a multifactorial, lifestyle associated condition which can be modified with behavioural modifications.3 Caries can also be managed without removing all microorganisms involved with the focus shifting to arresting the lesion instead.4 Management can be divided into four stages: Identify, prevent, restore and recall.

In this paper, we discuss the top tips for carrying out MID, and further explore the four stages involved in the management of caries.