As a pediatric dentistry, Dr. Hetal Desai often treats children who are afraid of needles. “The question arises from parents, can’t we come up with treatments for childhood caries that doesn’t require needles?” she says. “To place fillings, we need to drill the tooth structure, and, to drill, we need to use a needle to administer anesthesia.” Searching for Materials for a Drill-Free Treatment of Caries Dr. Hetal Desai is a pediatric dentistry resident at the University of Toronto (Uof T). Dr. Desai has begun a research project to develop a minimally invasive treatment for caries. “This is largely a question of materials, not technique,” she says. The materials currently used most frequently require that decay be drilled and then materials replace the missing tooth structure. But a material that penetrates decayed tooth structure and bonds to it wouldn’t require drilling. “Low viscosity resin has been effective in treating white spot lesions or chalky white lesions that form after orthodontic treatment,” says Dr. Desai. “White spot lesions are incipient lesions that demonstrate increased porosities in the enamel structure due to demineralization. The porosities allow the resins to penetrate the tooth 19 Issue 6 | 2023 |
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