Prevention and Management of Dental Caries in Children – 2025 Edition
The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme published their updated guidance on the Prevention and Management of Dental Caries in Children in February 2025. To support the development and implementation of the updated guidance, TRiaDS have conducted several studies with practitioners.
Scoping
A scoping study was conducted in 2023. Dentists, dental therapists and dental hygienists were asked to complete a short, anonymous, online questionnaire, exploring their views on the barriers and facilitators of implementing the 2018 edition of the guidance, as well as the presentation and content of the guidance. Practitioners were also asked if they were aware of any new relevant evidence or clinical developments. The results of the questionnaire were fed back to the guidance development group and informed the guidance surveillance exercise undertaken by SDCEP, which confirmed the requirement for a guidance update. A paper detailing this work has been accepted for publication by the British Dental Journal.
Practitioner Interviews
Practitioners were invited to take part in online interviews in Autumn 2024. These interviews covered topics where the 2025 edition would be changing to reflect new evidence: the use of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) as a caries management option, a change to the key recommendation about placing preventive fissure sealants, and pulpotomy for irreversible pulpitis in permanent teeth. Results were summarised and presented to the SDCEP team before publication of the guidance and were used to inform the pre-publication questionnaire.
Pre-publication questionnaire
Before the updated guidance was published, a questionnaire was distributed to dentists, dental therapists and dental hygienists. The questionnaire contained questions about the same topics as the interviews (SDF, preventive fissure sealants and pulpotomy in permanent teeth), as well as questions about realistic dentistry. A questionnaire will also be sent to practitioners 6 months following publication of the guidance. The results of these questionnaires will be used to support implementation of the guidance and identify areas where interventions may be required.