Minimal Intervention Dentistry for Children with Tooth Decay
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The MILD study: Minimal Intervention Dentistry for children with carious permanent teeth: a feasibility study
IRAS ID
270792
Contact name
Zoe Marshman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
Dental caries (tooth decay) is one of the most common diseases affecting childhood with surveys showing nearly a half of 15 year olds and a third of 12 year olds having obvious decay experience in their permanent teeth. Tooth decay can cause considerable pain and suffering for the child and time off school. NHS costs for treating decayed permanent teeth in 12 year olds alone are estimated at approximately £33 million per year. Traditional treatment involves treating the advanced stages of decay once it has made a cavity, using a local anaesthetic injection, drilling and placement of a filling material.
Minimum Intervention dentistry (MID) is a relatively new way of managing tooth decay. It involves early detection, diagnosis, prevention, a filling when required, and review. Identifying tooth decay in its early stages, rather than waiting for a cavity to form, helps to assess the likelihood of further tooth decay, and provide early prevention and treatment. Tooth decay when detected early can be stopped with preventive MID strategies, such as sealing, without the need to drill or fill. For advanced stages where a cavity is already present , MID will aim to keep the size of the hole and subsequent filling as small, thereby preserving as much of the natural tooth as possible.
Before running a decisive trial in primary dental care to evaluating the clinical and cost effectiveness of MID, a number of uncertainties will to be addressed by this feasibility study.
This feasibility study will involve practices implementing the MID approach to children aged 6 to 16 years with decay in their permanent teeth. Data will be collected using questionnaires and interviews with dental professionals and children. These will highlight any issues such as recruitment, acceptability and implementation that may affect the running of a decisive larger trial.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EM/0018
Date of REC Opinion
5 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion