5.2 Treatment of Patterns of Caries
Dental caries manifests in several recognized patterns of disease. These patterns have different implications for risk classification (see the caries risk classification table) and treatment and recall intervals.
Early Childhood Caries
Early childhood caries (ECC) is a pattern of dental caries that occurs in children ages 71 months or younger.
Effective ECC interventions need to be aggressive and must be targeted towards the child, parents, and other caregivers. Primary prevention strategies such as reducing the caries infection should be targeted toward pregnant women and new mothers. A child with ECC is at high risk for dental caries and should have a short recall interval. The child’s siblings should also be considered at high risk for dental caries.
Mild Early Childhood Caries
If ECC is caught early and few teeth are affected, preventive strategies such as fluoride varnish applications, parent education, and diet modification (e.g., weaning the child from the bottle by age 12 months) can arrest lesions and stop the infection. In these cases, the dentist needs to set short recall intervals to assess whether preventive strategies are working.
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