Summary

Dental professionals must be aware of the current evidence-based preventive dental literature in order to educate their patients. Although dental caries has declined in certain patient populations in the U.S. due to the contribution of fluoride, dental professionals will unfortunately continue to see dental caries among dental patients due to chronic social habits such as energy, sports drinks, and soda that increase the amount of lactic-acid attacks the patient receives daily. Our role as dental providers is to complete caries risk assessment on each of our patients routinely. We know that our patients’ risk of caries can change, even at their last recall appointment. With a new clinical examination, updating the patient’s risk assessment, and taking the time to educate each patient on plaque biofilm removal we can hopefully prevent future dental caries.