The concept of minimally invasive dentistry.

This paper reviews Minimally Invasive Dentistry (MID) from a day-to-day dentistry perspective, focusing mostly on cariology and restorative dentistry, even though it embraces many aspects of dentistry. The concept of MID supports a systematic respect for the original tissue, including diagnosis, risk assessment, preventive treatment, and minimal tissue removal upon restoration. The motivation for MID emerges from the fact that fillings are not permanent and that the main reasons for failure are secondary caries and filling fracture. To address these flaws, there is a need for economical re-routing so that practices can survive on maintaining dental health and not only by operative procedures.