This review focuses on “A Clinical Guide To Advanced Minimum Intervention Restorative Dentistry,” a valuable resource for the entire oral healthcare team, from undergraduates to experienced practitioners. As a proponent of conservative, minimum intervention oral care (MIOC), I find this book, a successor to ‘Pickard’s’, written by a recognized expert, to be a significant contribution to the field.
The book presents a well-structured overview of hard tissue pathologies, encompassing caries, tooth wear, trauma, and developmental defects. The use of colorful diagrams and clinical photographs effectively illustrates each aspect, making the concepts readily accessible to readers of all levels.
The reader is guided through the principles and clinical domains of MIOC delivery, covering identifying clinical problems, phased personalized care planning, disease control and lesion prevention, minimally invasive operative interventions, and material choices. Clinical cases and relevant diagrams reinforce each domain, ensuring clarity and practical application. The emphasis on personalized care highlights the importance of tailoring treatment plans to individual patient needs, a cornerstone of ethical and effective dental practice.
A critical component of MIOC, often overlooked, is comprehensively addressed: clinical reassessment, recall, and maintenance. These elements are crucial for ensuring successful long-term outcomes for patients. The inclusion of self-assessment questions throughout the book is a particularly valuable feature, allowing readers to evaluate their understanding and application of the concepts presented. These questions serve as a valuable tool for reinforcing learning and promoting critical thinking.
Chapter 10 stands out as a highlight, offering worked clinical scenarios demonstrating how clinicians and teams can implement the MIOC delivery framework in primary care practice. This chapter illustrates the application of MIOC domains to high-risk adults and children, older adults, and low-risk adults, using illustrated reference tables that detail appointment scheduling and planning. These tables are highly practical and readily adaptable to various clinical settings. The detailed guidance on appointment scheduling is especially useful for optimizing practice efficiency and ensuring comprehensive patient care.
In an era where operative dental care increasingly leans towards invasive procedures in pursuit of aesthetics, this textbook provides a refreshing and welcome approach. It advocates for simple, practical care that prioritizes the preservation of vital tooth tissues for patients of all ages. The book’s emphasis on maintaining vital tooth tissues aligns with the principles of biomimetic dentistry, which seeks to replicate the natural properties of teeth. This approach minimizes the need for extensive restorations and promotes long-term tooth health.
