Novel operative treatment options

There are an increasing number of more novel options available for operative intervention. This chapter outlines a series of operative treatment options which are available to the modern clinician to select from once a decision has been made to treat a carious lesion operatively. A series of novel methods of caries removal have been described; including chemomechanical caries removal, air abrasion, sono-abrasion, polymer rotary burs and lasers. There are also novel approaches to ensure complete caries removal and novel approaches for the management of deep caries. A novel question increasingly asked by clinicians is: does all the caries need to be removed? Operative management options here include: therapeutic fissure sealants, ultraconservative caries removal, stepwise excavation and the Hall technique. In conclusion, there is now a growing wealth of evidence that questions the traditional methods of caries removal and restoring the tooth. In parallel, there is a growing movement exploring the merits of therapeutically sealing caries into the tooth. This philosophy is alien to many of today's dentists and, until further randomized controlled trials are carried out in primary care, prudent caution must be exercised with this promising approach. Research is required into techniques which will allow monitoring of sealed caries to detect any rare, but insidious, failures. These novel techniques are an alternative way of managing the later stages of the caries process from a sounder biological basis and have marked potential benefits to patients from treatment, pain and outcome perspectives.