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An Introduction to Risk Prediction & Preventive Dentistry

The etiology of dental caries and periodontal diseases is well understood, and we have now developed efficient methods for preventing these diseases. Over the last 25 years in the County of V@E4rmland, Sweden, large-scale implementation of our prevention programs has led to an increase in the percentage of caries-free 3-year-olds, from 30% to 97%, while reducing caries in 12-year-olds from an average of 25 DFS to less than 1 (0.6). In the last 10 years, we have increased the number of remaining teeth in 65-year-olds by more than 15% and reduced their loss of periodontal support by more than 20%, at the same time reducing the percentage who are edentulous from 17% to 7%.

According to the principles of lege artis, all members of our profession are obliged to offer treatment based on the most current scientific and clinical knowledge available. As we enter the new millennium, we must therefore continue to concentrate our efforts on preventing, controlling, and arresting the development of dental caries and periodontal diseases. However, needs-related preventive and maintenance programs must be cost effective and should be based on information derived from comprehensive diagnoses, histories, and risk predictions at group, individual, and tooth surface levels. For quality control and evaluation of such programs, computer-aided analytical epidemiology, using relevant variables, should be introduced.

The aim of this clinical textbook and atlas is to provide a broad overview of current and future trends in oral health care resources, diagnosis, risk prediction, prevention, and non-aggressive treatment of dental caries and periodontal diseases. This book, the first volume of a five-volume series, should also serve as an appetizer to the more comprehensive clinical textbooks and atlases to come, in which a detailed scientific background, a well illustrated guide to implementing the state of the art, and conclusions and future recommendations will be provided for each topic addressed. Thus the series will be useful not only for dentists and dental hygienists, but also for undergraduate and postgraduate students and teachers.