Management of dental caries demands early detection of carious lesions. This article provides an overview of the state of the art methodologies for the detection and assessment of early carious lesions. This review is based on PubMed for available literature on caries detection methodology and tools, using terms such as "early detection of caries," "caries detection methods or tools," "transillumination," "fluorescence," and "newer caries detection method," Conventional or the traditional methods for the detection of caries have failed to detect early incipient caries effectively. The advanced methods provide promising results in detection both early caries and also caries occurring on all surfaces of the tooth, which paves the way for a more preventive approach to caries management. Each caries detection tool has advantages and disadvantages; some perform better on certain surfaces than others. Newer diagnostic methods which are still under research may prove to be very effective for early detection of caries in the near future. The change in the paradigm to minimally invasive dentistry has ascertained the field of dentistry to a more preventive approach to caries management, which demands a proper caries risk assessment and an early detection of caries. Not all the methods accurately detect early lesions. Hence, the clinician must ascertain as to which method and diagnostic tool should be used for clinical assessment of early detection of caries.

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Since last two decades, the use of laser in dentistry evolved in an immense way. Although soft-tissue laser was initially introduced, but with invention of new-generation laser, it is now widely used on dental hard tissue as well. Commonly used laser in dentistry includes neodymium-yttrium aluminum garnet laser, erbium: yttrium aluminum garnet, CO₂, erbium chromium:yttrium scandium gallium garnet, holmium:yttrium aluminum garnet, and diode laser. Treating a pediatric patient with laser for oral and dental procedure is beneficial as it is less fearful to the child and better accepted by parents. When a clinician uses the laser for surgical or pulpal procedure, children become more cooperative and thus enhances treatment outcome. It is used for caries prevention, early diagnosis, cavity restoration, management of traumatized teeth, and minor oral surgical procedure in child patients. Although the use of laser may produce certain hazards and need some precautions, its use in pediatric dental practice seems to soon become the gold standard.

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As of now, there has been no single material in dentistry that fulfills all the requirements of an ideal material. While the search for an “ideal material” continues, a newer generation of materials has been introduced. The adjective “smart” implies that these materials are able to sense changes in their environments and then respond to these changes in predetermined manners – traits that are also found in living organisms. These materials may be altered in a controlled fashion by stimulus such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, and electric or magnetic field. Some of these are “bio-mimetic” in nature while others are “bio-responsive.” These materials would potentially allow new and groundbreaking dental therapies with a significantly enhanced clinical outcome of the treatment procedures. This paper attempts to highlight some of the currently available “smart materials” in pediatric dentistry which may over the course of years help us move toward a new era of bio-smart dentistry.

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Primary teeth play a pivotal role in preventing malocclusion of permanent dentition. When there is premature tooth loss, the space should be maintained for preserving the arch form and preventing space loss. Space maintainer is the treatment of choice in such conditions. When the conventional method is not applicable, we plan for modifications. In this clinical scenario, we have modified the crown and loop space maintainer with a single loop known as the Mayne's space maintainer.

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Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common congenital anomalies requiring multidisciplinary care. Such anomaly causes many problems such as impaired suckling, defective speech, deafness, malocclusion, gross facial deformity, and severe psychological problems. Cleft of the lip and palate is one such condition that occurs at such a strategic place in the orofacial region and at such a crucial time that it becomes a complex congenital deformity. Pediatric dentist has a vital role to play right from the neonatal period up to phase of permanent dentition. This review describes a vital role played by pediatric dentist, may it be preventive, restorative, or the interventional care. In the present review article, we offer an extensive review of the literature found in the ISI Web of Knowledge, Index Copernicus, SCOPUS, PubMed, and Cochrane Library. The key words searched were “Cleft lip,” “Cleft Palate,” “Cleft lip and palate,' “Dentist,” “Pediatric Dentist” “Pedodontist,” “Management,” and “dental treatment.”

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There are different types of restorations for complete crown coverage. These restoration techniques include polycarbonate crowns, acid etched crown, stainless steel crown (SSC), open–faced SSC with veneer placed on chair side and commercially veneered SSC. Each of these techniques presents technical, functional or esthetic compromises that complicate their efficient and effective usage. Recently, zirconium dioxide ceramic prefabricated crown has been used in the treatment of primary teeth. The choice of full coverage restoration for primary teeth must provide an esthetic appearance in addition to restoring function and durability. This article presents an overview of zirconia crowns in pedodontics and a case study of full coronal restoration using zirconia crown.

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Esthetic rehabilitation of anterior teeth in young children is a common sight in a dental clinic. Most of these young children report with rampant caries, nursing bottle caries, and fractured tooth due to trauma in the anterior region or even cases of dental caries. A major component while restoring anterior teeth is esthetics, being an important factor, especially in children as it affects their self-esteem and confidence. Also, in children, it can be challenging due to the smaller size of tooth, larger pulp chambers, and not-to-mention issues related to child behavior. Over the years, many types of crowns have been developed and advanced to aid the clinician in rehabilitating deciduous anterior teeth.

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Early childhood caries (ECC) is a major health concern that affects the oral health of infants and children negatively. Early loss of primary anterior teeth due to trauma or caries can cause loss of masticatory efficiency, compromised esthetics, mispronunciation of labiodentals sounds, and development of abnormal oral habits. The restoration of grossly decayed deciduous teeth especially anterior ones presents a major challenge to dentists, particularly in uncooperative children. The following case report of cases of early childhood caries documents the restoration of severely decayed deciduous teeth to improve their oral and general health and help them to gain more self-confidence.

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Loss of anterior teeth in children can lead to hampered esthetics, neuromuscular imbalance with decreased masticatory efficiency, speech disturbance, development of parafunctional habits, and psychological problems. With the growing awareness of the esthetic options available, there is a greater demand for solutions to unsightly problems such as caries, discolored teeth, hypoplastic defects, fractures, and missing teeth in children. However, the biggest dilemma is choosing the best treatment modality for a particular patient and situation. Thus, this review highlights the various recent advances in the field of anterior crowns in pediatric esthetic dentistry along with their indications, advantages, and disadvantages.

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Traumatic dental injury is one of the main causes of premature loss of maxillary anterior teeth in schoolgoing children, causing psychological trauma both to patient as well as parents. In that situation, choice of treatment is maintaining the space by space maintainer which may be fixed/removable or functional/nonfunctional. This article describes rehabilitation of a 4½-year-old child after avulsion of the maxillary central incisor, using fixed functional anterior esthetic space maintainer.

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Fluoride is often called a two-edged sword. In the human system, this fluoride has a dual personality, a destructive effect (>1.5 ppm – dental and skeletal fluorosis), and a beneficial effect (up to1.0 ppm – caries prevention and health promotion). World Health Organization recommends that the fluoride content in drinking water should be in the range of 1.0–1.5 ppm. Fluoride concentrations beyond the standards cause dental and skeletal fluorosis. Among various methods used for defluoridation of water, adsorption method is relatively simple, economical, and appropriate for drinking water treatment, especially for small communities. In this review, a list of various adsorbents and their adsorption capacities for fluoride are overviewed with various affecting parameters.

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Background: We see children from all age groups, be it a toddler to a teenager, stuck up to the mobile phone playing interactive games or even browsing internet entertainment holds a major share in the field of mobile applications, be it from listening to music or playing online games. However, very little has happened in favor of pediatric dentistry or even educating the patients about the procedures of their treatment which can help reduce their fear or apprehension. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dental apps in the management of child's anxiety and behavior. Materials and Methods: Sixty children (24 girls and 36 boys) were made to use mobile dental app called “My Little Dentist” developed by Tenlogix Games available on the Google Play Store on the android platform of the smartphones. Their anxiety levels were noted before and after playing the game using the face imaging scale. Results: The results were found to be highly significant; 86.67% patients turned from a negative to positive behavior, 11.67% from positive to definitely positive, and 1.67% from definitely negative to negative according to Frankl's behavior rating scale. Conclusion: The mobile dental app was found to be very useful in the dental setup to reduce the fear and anxiety of the pediatric patients.

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Background and Aim: Parents' knowledge and attitude have a very important role in the maintenance of young children's oral health. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of parents toward their children's oral health. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 parents participated in the study. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire addressing various aspects of knowledge and attitude of parents toward oral health. Results: Majority (75%) of the parents had low knowledge regarding the importance of using fluoridated toothpaste. Only 33% of parents were aware that nighttime bottle feeding can cause dental caries. Conclusion: The level of awareness among parents is relatively low, and there is a need to create more awareness about the knowledge and importance of deciduous teeth, regular dental visits among the society, and implementation of oral health awareness programs for parents.

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Trauma to the maxillary anterior teeth is a common incidence in young patients. Pediatric dentists have to deal with such dental traumatic injuries on a regular basis in their daily routine practice. Some clinical studies have reported reattachment of fractured tooth segment using adhesive resin cement and dentine bonding agent with or without postplacement. This case report presents a comprehensive management of complicated crown fracture in the maxillary anterior teeth with reattachment of the fractured tooth segment with dual-cure adhesive resin and a prefabricated glass-reinforced composite fiber post followed by a permanent restoration.

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Silver diamine fluoride can arrest dental caries and prevents its progression. By doing so, it provides an alternative care path for those patients in whom traditional restorative treatment cannot be done, for example, children lacking cooperating ability. Although silver diamine fluoride had been used as a caries preventive measure in 1970s in Japan, it had not become popular in the other part of the world. Now, many countries have recommend the use of 38% silver diamine fluoride solution for caries prevention as well as for caries arrest. Recently, The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry provided the guidelines regarding the use of silver diamine fluoride for dental caries management in children and adolescent including those with special healthcare needs.

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Toothbrushing as an oral hygiene measure has become an integral part of daily routine and regarded as safe for children. Toothbrush has been designed in such a way that it should not harm the soft tissues. Oropharyngeal injuries in children due to toothbrush while brushing the teeth can damage the vital tissues and vessels around the oropharynx and can end up with severe complications. Here, we report a case of a 3-year-old female child who had a severe oropharyngeal trauma while brushing was performed against to the child's wish.

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Grossly destructed anteriors and compromised esthetics are very commonly seen in the early childhood caries. Primary maxillary anterior teeth dominate the physical appearance, and their structural loss affects not only esthetics but also leads to compromised mastication, poor phonetics, development of aberrant oral habits, neuromuscular imbalance, and difficulty in social and psychological adjustment of the child. To prevent this restoration of maxillary anteriors with suitable option is highly expected. One of the options available apart from the routine tooth-colored restorations is the heat cure acrylic crown. This paper focuses the advantages and disadvantages in a way attempt to discuss custom made full coverage restoration, i.e., heat cure acrylic crown for anterior esthetic rehabilitation for pediatric patients.

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Background: The primary dentition plays a very important role in the child's growth and development, not only in terms of speech, chewing, appearance, and prevention of habits but also in the guidance and eruption of permanent teeth. Aim and Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of premature loss of primary teeth in 6- to 10-year-old schoolchildren in Khammam town, Telangana state, India. Settings and Design: A total of 1200 schoolchildren (600 boys and 600 girls) between 6 and 10 years of age were randomly selected for the study. Materials and Methods: An experienced examiner performed all clinical examinations under natural light. Data including age and missing tooth were collected. Alginate impressions of the study population with the missing teeth were taken, and diagnostic casts were prepared. Statistical Analysis: Microsoft Excel/2000 (Microsoft Office XP) data spreadsheet was used and later exported to the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for Windows (version 10.0). Descriptive statistics were applied, and from the results, Chi-square tests were applied at a level of statistical significance of 5% (P < 0.05). Results: The prevalence of premature loss of primary teeth was 13.5% of the study sample. It was higher in 8-year-olds, and lower right first primary molars were the most commonly affected teeth. Conclusion: The prevalence of premature loss of primary teeth was high, and the lower primary molars were the most commonly missing teeth. Dental caries was main reason for premature loss of primary teeth followed by trauma.

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Foreign body aspiration or ingestion can be a potential complication or a life-threatening emergency situation. During routine dental treatment, the handling of dental objects requires particular care, especially with dental bridges and files. Precautionary measures have to be taken to avoid such situation. A dentist must be able to manage emergency situations in which accidental swallowing of dental instruments and materials occur. This article reviews the signs and symptoms, management, complications, and precautions of aspiration or ingestion of foreign bodies.

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The objective of this systematic review is to use the principles of evidence-based dentistry to evaluate clinically and radiographically the prognosis of replanted avulsed permanent incisors in the pediatric age group with an immature or mature apex having an extraoral dry time up to 60 min and a follow-up period of 24 months or more. The study inclusion criteria included case reports and case series published in English. Databases used for the search were PubMed, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, and Cochrane from January 1, 2000 to September 30, 2017. In addition, hand search of dissertations and journals on pediatric dentistry related to the topic of interest was performed in the institutional library. Contact to authors and colleagues working on similar subjects in the field was made through e-mails. Based on the moderate level of evidence available to assess the prognosis of replanted avulsed permanent incisors by clinical and radiographic evaluation, it is fair to conclude that the prognosis of the replanted teeth was best when the extraoral dry time was <15 min and the tooth was stored in osmolality-balanced media such as Hank's balanced salt solution, saline, and milk. The immature teeth showed better prognosis than mature teeth.

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Mucocele is a salivary gland lesion that occurs due to extravasation of the mucus into the fibrous connective tissue leading to a cyst-like cavity. The wall of the cavity is formed by compressed bundles of collagen fibrils and is filled with mucin. We report a case of mucocele in the right buccal mucosa due to unknown origin.

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Introduction: To prevent the dental arch deficiency after untimely loss of primary teeth, a space maintainer is employed. Space maintainers currently in use like band and loop are considered a non-aesthetic appliance. Light Cured Acrylic Resins LCAR are commonly utilized in dental practice. They provide the essential mechanical and physical properties with the necessary characteristics to be used in diverse functions in dentistry. Aim: To provide an aesthetic alternative space maintainer after premature extraction of second primary molar. Case Description: An eight-year-old healthy boy reported with a recently missing lower left second primary molar. A pink color sheet of LCAR Triad® VLC (Custom Tray) product was used to construct a space maintainer. After complete examination, full arch isolation was performed using rubber dam and suction. Both the abutment teeth were cleaned with pumice slurry and then etched with 35% orthophosphoric acid for 30 seconds for primary first molar and 20 seconds for the permanent first molar. The teeth were rinsed, air-dried, and wetted with an adhesive that was light-cured for 20 seconds. A thin layer of flowable composite was applied to the buccal surfaces of the abutment teeth without light-curing it. The cut length of LCAR was placed over the flowable composite extending from the buccal aspect of permanent first molar to buccal aspect of the primary second molar. The ends of the LCAR were adapted to the teeth surfaces with a plastic instrument. The composite and LCAR was light-cured for 2 minutes. for each end of LCAR.Conclusion: This case report showed that the Light Cure Acrylic Resin space maintainers can be a new alternative to the traditionally fixed space maintainers used in pediatric dentistry.

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Primary dentition is important for space maintenance, mastication, speech, and development of occlusion, premature loss of which results in space loss, deep bite, crowding, tooth impactions, and midline shift. Deciduous second molar guides the erupting first permanent molar which uprights in position after following the forward and upward path of eruption. Prevention of the space loss due to premature loss of primary second molar always been a challenge for pedodontists. Several designs of guiding appliances are proposed, the most common design being the Willet's appliance. Willet's design unable to provide broad contact often results in dislodgment of the vertical arm, slipping, and rotation of erupting molar. In this article, a modified design of the distal shoe has been compared with three other cases with Willet's appliance.

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Background: Dental caries is one of the most common oral problems affecting children globally involving the people of all region and society. It can be seen in all age groups of children involving both deciduous and permanent teeth. Dental caries is a lifetime disease, and the highest priority risk group is between 6 and 12 years of age. Aims: The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of dental caries in both primary and permanent dentition among school-going children in Mahbubnagar district. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2000 children in different areas of Mahbubnagar district in the age group of 6–12 years. The dental caries status was assessed by decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT)/dmft index using the World Health Organization criteria 1997. Collected data from each patient are subjected to statistical analysis to know the prevalence of dental caries. Results: Dental caries in both primary dentition and permanent dentition was 64.2% and 26.6%, respectively. The prevalence of dental caries in primary dentition was more in 7–8-year-old children and less in 11–12-year-old children (P > 0.05). The overall mean dmft score of both males and females is 1.49 ± 1.56; the overall mean DMFT score of both males and females is 0.57 ± 1.23. Conclusion: The present study showed that the frequency of caries was found to be higher in Northern region of Mahbubnagar. The dental caries was more in 7–8-year-old children and less in 11–12-year-old children whereas less in local villages of Mahbubnagar.

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Infection control is the most vital and fundamental aspect of health-care practice pertaining to the faculties of medicine, surgery, or dentistry. The nature of dental procedures involves occupational exposure to blood and saliva that might carry these microorganisms. Dental health-care professionals and dental patients are, therefore, at a high risk for developing infectious diseases. This article emphasizes the importance of infection control in a dental office. It describes the protocol to be followed in a dental clinic setup. Steps in health care waste management have also been discussed. It is extremely important for a dentist to follow a protocol to facilitate cross-infection control in the office and to prevent cross-contamination between the patients, dentists, assistants, and ancillary staff. Personal protection, decontamination/sterilization of instruments and materials, and formulation of an infection control policy have been discussed.

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