Balance: A Guide to Managing Dental Caries for Patients and Practitioners

A guide for managing dental caries for patients and practitioners. Dental decay (caries) is an epidemic. The disease is caused by an oral imbalance between risk factors for the disease and protective factors keeping patients healthy. Despite major advances in early decay detection, surgical repair technologies, and minimally invasive techniques; decay rates in many demographics continue to rise. For many patients, despite regular homecare, dental caries is a lifelong disease that progresses; causing pain, financial distress, and eventual tooth loss. Balance is a guide for patients and practitioners to manage dental caries disease. It provides the answers to the questions... Why do I keep getting cavities? and What can I do about it? www.balancebook.com Ever wonder why some people continue to get cavities despite efforts by the dental team, while others do not? A healthy mouth requires more than brushing, flossing, and fillings. Dental caries, and the subsequent dental decay, is a complicated multifactorial disease of epidemic levels affecting children and adults. Balance addresses current trends in caries disease management, including caries risk assessment, new detection technologies, and therapeutic strategies for managing this disease. With the current scientific evidence and new technologies, patients and practitioners can begin to look at caries from not just a purely restorative (drilling and placing fillings) approach but also a medical (preventive/therapeutic) approach. This information allows patients and their dental specialists to select proper therapeutic strategies designed to prevent, stop, or reverse the cavity process. Balance is an excellent guide for managing dental caries that belongs in each and every dental practice and should be read by any patient seeking a dental home treatment or considering a restorative treatment. Douglas A. Young, DDS, MS, MBA