Dental Up date
Root Canal on tooth 47
Minimally invasive dentistry (MID) is the application of “a systematic respect for the original tissue.” This implies that the dental profession recognizes that an artifact is of less biological value than the original healthy tissue. MID is a concept that can embrace all aspects of the profession. The common delineator is tissue preservation, preferably by preventing disease from occurring and intercepting its progress, but also removing and replacing with as little tissue loss as possible. It does not suggest that we make small fillings to restore incipient lesions or surgically remove impacted third molars without symptoms as routine procedures (Ericson 2004).[1] Some authors have defined MID as maximal preservation of healthy dental structures. For example, within cardiology, this concept includes the use of all available information and techniques ranging from accurate diagnosis of caries, caries risk assessment and prevention, to technical procedures in repairing restorations (Ericson et al. 2003; Ericson 2007).[2,3] Others have defined it with even greater clarity, such as White and Eakle (2000)[4] and Murdoch-Kinch and McLean (2003)[5] with the objective of MID encompassing a range of clinical procedures that include assessment of caries risk to reinforce patient self-help, early detection of the disease before lesion cavitation to fortify the oral environment, restoration of fissure caries with maximum retention of sound tooth structure and sealant placement in unaffected areas. This conservative approach minimizes the restoration/re-restoration cycle; thus, benefiting the patient over a lifetime. The world congress of MID defines minimally invasive dentistry as those techniques, which respect health, function and esthetics of oral tissue by preventing disease from occurring, or intercepting its progress with minimal tissue loss (Nový and Fuller 2008).[6]
