While animal-assisted interventions may reduce distress for anxious patients, dental professionals need to adhere to appropriate guidelines to ensure their proper introduction into dental practice.
Improved understanding of relevant genetic factors will help increase the precision of caries risk assessment and, ultimately, enable more targeted, personalized interventions that will effectively prevent and manage dental caries.
This discussion of trends in smokeless tobacco use and strategies for cessation are designed to help oral health professionals adequately address this public health epidemic.