Faculty Resources

Description:   

This session introduces dental caries as a chronic, dynamic, biofilm-mediated disease rather than a static lesion. Learners will examine how microbial metabolism, repeated pH fluctuations, and host factors such as saliva, diet, fluoride exposure, and oral hygiene behaviors influence cycles of demineralization and remineralization over time. The session will also provide a high-level overview of caries epidemiology to contextualize its impact across populations.    

Learning Objectives:   

• Explain dental caries as a chronic, dynamic, biofilm-mediated disease process driven by repeated pH changes and influenced by host and environmental factors.   
• Describe how microbial activity within dental biofilms leads to cycles of demineralization and remineralization over time.   
• Describe how caries progression varies by individual risk and contextual factors.   
• Interpret high-level population data on dental caries to explain why early detection and prevention are central to oral health practice.    

Download the Session 1 Instructor Guide and the Sesson 1 Slides with Faculty Notes. 

Description:   

This session will investigate the pivotal role of fermentable carbohydrates and biofilm bacteria in the development of dental caries, emphasizing how fluoride, calcium, and phosphate contribute to enamel stability and support remineralization through saliva. It also explores plaque formation, ecological shifts within the oral microbiome, and the effects of repeated acidic challenges on enamel demineralization.   

Students will analyze the role of mutans streptococci as key acidogenic and aciduric organisms associated with lesion initiation and understand how low pH environments favor their persistence and activity. By the end of the session, they will understand the dynamic balance between demineralization and remineralization and how microscopic changes in enamel translate to clinical lesion development.   

Learning Objectives:   

• Explain how biofilm metabolism of fermentable carbohydrates leads to acid production and repeated pH fluctuations.   
• Describe how diffusion and critical pH contribute to subsurface enamel demineralization.   
• Differentiate between demineralization and remineralization at the crystal level, including the role of fluoride in reducing enamel solubility.   
• Relate microscopic changes in enamel to clinical presentation, including white spot lesions and D1–D4 classification.   
• Describe how shifts in biofilm composition contribute to lesion initiation and progression.   

Download the Session 2 Instructor Guide and the Sesson 2 Slides with Faculty Notes. 

Description:   

This session will help students understand if caries is a transmissive or infectious disease and how disease can be transmitted between humans. They will also understand how to coach humans on how to decrease the transmission of pathogenic bacteria that can lead to decay.   

Learning Objectives:   

• Discuss the evidence on vertical and horizontal transmission of cariogenic bacteria associated with dental caries.   
• Interpret a case review of saliva data from two families with similar saliva and disease presentations.   
• Select strategies for families to reduce their risk for dental caries.   

Download the Session 3 Instructor Guide and the Sesson 3 Slides with Faculty Notes. 

Description:   

Dental caries is a multifactorial disease process influenced by the balance between pathological and protective factors. Understanding how disease indicators, risk factors, and protective factors interact helps clinicians identify patients at risk and guide preventive care. Using concepts from Featherstone’s caries balance model, learners examine how biological, behavioral, and environmental factors contribute to the development and progression of dental caries.

Frameworks such as Caries Management by Risk Assessment (CAMBRA) and tools such as the ADA Caries Risk Assessment Form (CRA) are introduced as approaches for applying this understanding in practice. Through case-based activities and discussion, learners practice identifying caries risk and applying this information to support prevention and patient-centered care.

Learning Objectives:   

• Compare approaches used to assess caries risk.
• Identify disease indicators, risk factors, and protective factors associated with dental caries.
• Explain how caries risk assessment informs patient conversations and prevention planning.

 Download the Session 4 Instructor Guide and the Sesson 4 Slides with Faculty Notes. 

Description:   

Applying concepts of caries risk and balance is a core competency for oral health professionals. Through patient scenarios and peer discussion, students practice identifying disease indicators, risk factors, and protective factors and assigning an overall caries risk level. The activity emphasizes clinical reasoning and the role of caries risk assessment in guiding prevention planning and patient conversations. By engaging in a simulated provider-patient interaction, learners begin to connect risk assessment with individualized, preventive approaches to caries management.

Learning Objectives:   

• Apply a caries risk assessment tool in a provider-patient scenario.
• Differentiate disease indicators, risk factors, and protective factors.
• Assign a caries risk level based on patient findings.
• Discuss how risk assessment guides prevention planning.

 Download the Session 5 Instructor Guide and the Sesson 5 Slides with Faculty Notes. 

Description:   

Learners will explore prevention levels in this session, covering public health strategies and individual/community clinical interventions. The aim is to provide learners with insights into preventive dentistry, emphasizing the pivotal role of early intervention and a comprehensive understanding of risk factors.

Learning Objectives:   

• Define primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.
• Discuss the CAMBRA protocol and the evidence for CAMBRA.
• Examine the evidence for the protocols listed within the CAMBRA framework.
• Explain how prevention aligns with disease progression.
• Apply prevention strategies based on timing.
• Describe how CAMBRA guides clinical decision-making.

 Download the Session 6 Instructor Guide and the Sesson 6 Slides with Faculty Notes. 

Description:   

Learners will apply caries risk assessment to two clinical case studies. Participants will identify disease indicators, risk factors, and protective factors, and use this information to determine caries risk level. Emphasis is placed on clinical reasoning and justification of decisions.

Learning Objectives:   

• Identify disease indicators, risk factors, and protective factors.
• Determine caries risk level using clinical evidence.
• Justify their risk assessment using findings from the case.

 Download the Session 7 Instructor Guide and the Sesson 7 Slides with Faculty Notes. 

Description:   

In this session, learners will explore how the quantity and quality of saliva influence oral health. This presentation will examine key factors such as acidity, pH levels, and buffering capacity, and how they shape the oral environment and microbiome. Learners will also consider patient-specific factors affect salivary function and contribute to caries risk.

Learning Objectives:   

• Explain the functions of saliva in oral health.
• Differentiate how the quality and quantity of saliva affect patients’ disease status.
• Describe how saliva influences caries risk.
• Identify factors that alter salivary flow and composition.

 Download the Session 8 Instructor Guide and the Sesson 8 Slides with Faculty Notes. 

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