CAMBRA: An Examination of Change in the Dental Profession

Dental caries is a disease process, one that will not be eliminated by tooth repair alone. Caries is the most prevalent disease of children and the primary reason for most restorative dental visits in both adults and children. A risk-based approach to managing caries targets those in greatest jeopardy for contracting the disease and provides evidenced-based decisions to treat current disease and prevent it in the future. This dissertation focuses on an approach to diagnosing and managing caries disease that holds promise of transforming the ways dentists treat this disease. This approach focuses on assessing the risk of caries and designing an individualized treatment plan that treats the disease in the least invasive way possible known as "Caries Management by Risk Assessment" or CAMBRA. Taken in total, the chapters presented in this dissertation address the related problems of disseminating information about CAMBRA and influencing both the practice of dentistry and the education of dentists. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]