Prevention-centered caries management strategies during critical periods in early childhood.

The current caries management model in the United States is based on restoring teeth rather than preventing disease. Scarce resources make this approach unsustainable, especially in clinical settings that serve vulnerable child populations. This paper presents specific prevention-centered caries management strategies that should form the basis of clinical interventions targeted at children during four critical periods in childhood: pre-age 1, ages 1-3, ages 4-5, and ages 6-7.