How will we apply the principles of CAMBRA next week?
For the past 6 weeks,I have been busy taking classes on Coursera and even doing some homework! It is my last week of learning Caries Management By Risk Assessment (CAMBRA) and the potential it has to shape our future and the future of our the dental profession as we know it. I worry about what will happen when this Coursera.org course is over. One of the reasons I worry is that, as I reviewed some of my peers’ homework, every week, there was an essential factor consistently missing: the HOW. Every week I read mostly good reviews, some even brilliant, of the articles we had to read on caries risk assessment and caries management. However, in almost all of the homeworks I reviewed, the additional paragraph on HOW the key elements of each article could be applied in a clinical setting missed the point or was missing all together.
We all have a good grasp of WHAT CAMBRA does. HOW we will implement the CAMBRA principles into our daily lives as health professionals NOW is the question we need to answer.
I see CAMBRA as a solid foundation on which to begin the creation of a new model for dentistry. A model in which dentists are highly skilled physicians of the mouth as opposed to being highly skilled technicians. A model in which, early detection of a complex imbalance before it leads to irreversible damage known as tooth decay, together with clear steps to re-establish balance, will have a positive impact not only on oral health (short and long term) but also on overall health.
It is with this in mind that I invite all of you, yes all, not only dentists, to join this blog post in which we can share ideas on HOW we already use or will implement CAMBRA not only in our dental clinics, but also invite others, health professionals, perhaps educators too, to add Caries Risk Assessment to the routine evaluations of the people they care for.
I look forward to exchanging many ideas.
Getting the whole team involved in CAMBRA is essential for success! Start with a meeting to discuss why you think the idea of CAMBRA is important for your patients and your practice. Once you have decided to implement the CAMBRA protocol in your office, the next step is selecting your biometric,ie what risk assessment form you would like to use. There are several forms to chose from but I feel CariFree provides the most simplified approach. CariFree also manufactures the CariScreen ATP meter used by Dr. Featherstone to measure bacterial challenge. Once the pt’s risk level has been assessed, CariFree offers a line of products specific to each patient type. All of the CariFree products have an elevated pH and contain xylitol. More information can be found by watching this 5 minute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smzZRy5rljA&list=TLs76jyjs7nHQnAGBT5dm5d8uIPqQCQqSZ