To drill or not to drill?

My childhood recollections of a visit to the dentist still invoke images of the drill and its whining sound. Visions of Dustin Hoffman shrieking with fear and pain in Marathon Man were vivid in my mind before I even embarked on a career in dentistry. I remember when I first graduated that to treat decay without removing tooth tissue would have seemed a little far fetched. The amount of time that was spent with drill in hand is more than I care to remember.

However, move on 20 years and now the approach at our dental practice is entirely different. We are focused on minimal intervention (MI) and this ranges from diagnosis, prevention, right through to treatment and recall. Our practice team from receptionists, extended duties nurses, dental therapists, and dentists play important parts in our MI approach. Everyone gives preventive advice and perform caries risk assessment tests such as plaque testing, saliva testing, cariogenic bacterial counts and caries laser detection. Together with equipment such as magnification, air abrasion, and latest adhesive restorative materials we have firmly planted the ethos of MI in our dental care. The importance of each member of our team to continuity of service delivery cannot be underestimated, and we have very low staff turnover for a multi-surgery practice. The culture of MI is all pervading. It hasn’t just changed patients but also our practice and working environment for the better.