DENTAL CARIES REMOVAL STRATEGIES: AN OVERVIEW

Dental caries is the most common chronic disease, whose aetiology is multifactorial. It results from chemical dissolution and demineralisation of tooth structure due to the organic acids produced by microbes. If these lesions are left untreated, it can result in pulpal and periapical infection. Hence careful conservative management of these carious lesions are done to prevent further destruction. There are various concepts on caries excavation, from complete removal of the carious lesion to treatment where the carious lesion is not touched. There are also few non-invasive methods to arrest these lesions which are described in this article. Other than hand instrumentation, both rotary and non-rotary techniques were utilized in caries removal. Rotary includes dental burs of varying shapes and sizes running on various speeds whereas non-rotary includes air abrasives, ultrasonic, laser, chemo-mechanical techniques. This review article mainly focuses on various caries removal techniques and instrumentation.