A Contemporary Approach to the Clinical Management and Rehabilitation of Severe Early Childhood Caries.

Early childhood caries (ECC) is a common, chronic, infectious disease that affects primary teeth in children younger than six 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 eventually occur. 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. Fixed and removable space maintainer applications follow the extraction of untreatable primary teeth. Regularly monitoring these cases in the high caries risk group ensures prevention and minimization of the problems that may arise from dental caries in advanced ages and in the transition to permanent dentition. This presentation will explain these current treatment modalities, the resulting oral rehabilitation, and case stories supported by the current dental literature and long-term follow-up outcomes.

Prof. Dr. Senem Kuvvetly

Prof. Dr. Senem Selvi Kuvvetli graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Dentistry in Türkiye in 1995 and completed her specializing and doctorate in Pedodontics PhD Program at the Institute of Health Sciences of the same university in 2002. She has been working as a full-time faculty member and clinical practitioner at Yeditepe University Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, of which she has been the chair since 2016. She was the General Secretary of the Turkish Society of Pediatric Dentistry between 2014-2024 and continues serving the Society as the President-Elect on the Board of Directors. She has served as the councilor of Türkiye in the European Academy of Pediatric Dentistry between 2018 and 2024. She is also an active member of the International Association of Pediatric Dentistry. In 2023, she was assigned as the editor-in-chief of the Yeditepe University Faculty of Dentistry Journal, Yeditepe Clinic. Prof. Dr. Senem Selvi Kuvvetli has published over 50 articles in national and international journals, three book chapters, and more than 100 oral and poster presentations at international and national congresses. Her research interests are cariology and preventive dentistry, pulp therapies in primary and immature permanent teeth and dental traumatology. She is married with an 18-year-old daughter.