Prof. Dr. Senem Selvi Kuvvetli

Current Treatment Modalities and Oral Rehabilitation in ECC Cases
Early childhood caries (ECC) is a common, chronic, infectious disease that affects primary teeth in children younger than 6 years of age, caused by cariogenic bacteria in the oral cavity. Children with this disease experience pain, loss of space in the jaws and dental arches, deterioration in growth and development and quality of life, and an increased risk of new caries lesions in permanent dentition, when these caries lesions are left untreated. In severe ECC cases, these caries lesions may cause extensive destruction of dental hard tissues and pulp-related acute and chronic infections may occur eventually. Minimally invasive approaches with the use of biomimetic dental materials, Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART), Interim Therapeutic Restorations (ITR), vital and nonvital pulp treatments, restorations using up-to-date restorative materials and full coronal restorations (prefabricated stainless steel and zirconia crowns) are used in the treatment of these cases. The extraction of untreatable primary teeth is followed by fixed and removable space maintainer applications. Regular monitoring of these cases, which are in the high caries risk group, ensures prevention and/or minimization of the problems that may arise from dental caries in advanced ages and in the transition to permanent dentition. In this presentation, these current treatment modalities and the resulting oral rehabilitation will be explained along with case stories.