Caries Process and Prevention Strategies

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies comprises a series of ten continuing education courses that may be taken individually or as a complete series. Procter & Gamble is delighted to have created these courses in conjunction with ADEA, enabling high quality educational experiences and an up-to-date understanding of both the science and its relevance to clinical dental practice.

World-recognized educators and researchers, from a wide range of institutions, were invited to contribute to this educational resource. The ten courses created by the faculty are as follows:

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: Epidemiology
This course gives an emphasis on the relevancy of oral epidemiology to clinical practice and presents trends in prevalence and incidence of caries in both the U.S. and world populations.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: The Agent
This course introduces the student to the caries process and the multi-factorial nature of the disease. Dental plaque is presented as a microbial biofilm ecosystem.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: The Host
This course introduces the student to the caries process and the role of the host. The three host factors: tooth, saliva, and the immune response, are introduced along with an explanation of their respective roles.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: The Environment
This course introduces the role of the oral environment as one of the causal factors. The acidogenic and cariogenic potential of dietary carbohydrates is discussed along with clinical risk assessment.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: Demineralization / Remineralization
This course introduces the student to the caries process and the multi-factorial nature of the disease. Dental plaque is presented as a microbial biofilm ecosystem.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: Diagnosis
This course introduces the student to the recognition and diagnosis of the caries lesion. Conventional assessment tools used for diagnosis are detailed along with newer technologies.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: Erosion
This course introduces the concept of erosive tooth wear as a condition distinct from caries but that is emerging as a public health issue with increasing prevalence in all age-groups. The factors that cause tooth wear are introduced along with diagnosis and preventive measures.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: Prevention
This course introduces the student to the caries process and the multi-factorial nature of the disease. Dental plaque is presented as a microbial biofilm ecosystem.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: Intervention
This course introduces the student to the role of fluoride in the prevention of caries and includes water fluoridation, systemic fluoride supplementation, fluoride dentifrice and rinses, and professionally applied agents.

Caries Process and Prevention Strategies: Risk Assessment
This course covers methods for assessing a patient’s risk for developing dental caries and provides a risk protocol for clinical adoption.

Through the Assignment Feature, dental educators can select these and any other courses for assignment, distribute the assignment to their students, and track assessment scores and course completions. To access the instructions for the Assignment Feature, click here.