Saving Teeth Under COVID Restrictions: Modifications of the ART Technique
Mark Roettger, DDS
Monday, October 19, 2020
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
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Dental clinics invariably carry the risk of COVID-19 infection due to the normal procedures performed.
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ART is a strategy for caries management that does not use a handpiece.
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Cavitated carious lesions with a diagnosis of reversible pulpitis have the best prognosis when treated with ART.
During the pandemic, clinicians need to find ways to treat patients who need our help safely. We need to think out of the box and devise new ways to delay the spread of dental disease as our handpieces are taken from our armamentarium.
Clinicians need procedures that allow us to conservatively treat dental disease without transmitting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Atraumatic Restorative Technique (ART) was designed to be done without using a handpiece, so it is useful to consider this technique in our current state of dental practice. By definition, ART is a strategy for caries management that does not use a handpiece.
ART should be a part of every dental clinic treatment protocols when aerosol generation is contraindicated. Shortages of PPE and extra-oral vacuum filters could lead to increased use of ART procedures going forward.
This eBook by Mark Roettger, DDS, is written to help you save teeth and stabilize them by detailing a modified ART strategy that does not require use of a handpiece and is meant to conservatively manage appropriate cavitated lesions.