Aim

The aim is for students to enrich their clinical skills in diagnosis, prevention and restoration of dental caries and other types of lesions of tooth hard tissues. The student should restore functionality and esthetics in a comprehensive patient treatment approach.

Learning outcomes

• Complete the patient's medical and dental history; assess the caries risk group of the patient; decide for the appropriate protocol of dental caries management.
• Diagnose all types of carious lesions, based on clinical and radiographic examination; correlate the clinical situation with the histological stage of carious lesions; effectively remove carious dental tissues.
• Evaluate the quality of the restorations based on clinical criteria.
• Treat incipient caries with preventive measures, and place pit & fissure sealants and microconservative restorations.
• Treat teeth with moderate carious lesions; select and apply the appropriate restorative technique.
• Treat non-carious cervical lesions and root caries; specify their causes and select and apply the appropriate restorative technique.
• Select the appropriate restorative technique and retentive features for complex cavities with extensive tissue loss in vital and endodontically treated teeth; describe the clinical steps applied.
• Restore endodontically treated teeth with severe hard tissue loss.
• Select the appropriate technique for the treatment of teeth with esthetic problems; describe the sequent clinical steps and to apply them, optionally, in some cases.

Content

• Diagnosis of several types of caries and other hard tissue tooth lesions.
• Clinical evaluation of restorations. Case studies and clinical practice. 
• Retention of restorations (cavities, prefabricated posts, enamel and dentin etching, bonding). Case studies and clinical practice. 
• Pulp protection. Case studies and clinical practice. 
• Non-carious cervical lesions. Case studies and clinical practice.
• Treatment of incipient caries – Case studies and clinical practice. 
• Treatment of moderate cavitated carious lesions - Case studies and clinical practice. 
• Treatment of teeth with extensive tissue loss - Case studies. 
• Treatment of fractured teeth - Case studies.
• Treatment of teeth with esthetic problems - Case studies.

Educational methods

• Seminars, in groups, with operative dentistry cases.
• Seminars, in groups, with oral rehabilitation treatment planning cases
• Clinical practice with patients in Total Care Patient Clinic  

Criteria for successful completion

• Attendance (at least 80%) of seminars (no grading)
• Successful completion of clinical requirements and clinical evaluation (no grading)