Atraumatic restorative treatment and its use in public health dentistry

In many countries, including Brazil, strictly curative traditional dentistry was unable to establish improved Oral Health indices, because in addition to the high prevalence of dental caries, both patients and professionals encounter economic barriers; the latter are frequently unable to obtain the equipment required for providing dental assistance. Atraumatic Restorative Treatment was proposed as a new approach to caries treatment, as the goal was to attend needy populations that lived under conditions without electrical power supply, as well as to reduce costs. This type of treatment also seeks to respect one of the main current concepts of dental practice, which is to create a favorable environment that halts the caries disease process by means of minimum intervention and maximum preservation of dental structures. In addition to the curative aspect of cavity preparations and restorations, there are the added advantages of concern focused on health promotion, education and patient motivation. In view of the above explanation, the purpose of this article is to expound and discuss the main aspect related to this type of restorative treatment linked to Public Health, by means of a literature review. Indexing terms: dental caries; public health dentistry; oral health.