Oral Health Education · NEBDN certificate
Caries and Prevention
The caries process, risk assessment and recall, preventive advice by age band, early childhood caries.
What causes decay and what actually prevents it. The topic covers the caries process and its aetiology as Delivering Better Oral Health describes it, caries risk assessment and the recall intervals that follow from it, preventive advice by age band, plaque control and toothbrushing, and early childhood caries. Around half of the questions are extended matching: matching a preventive intervention to a risk group, or a risk factor to the mechanism by which it causes harm.
What this topic covers
These are the sub-topics the app's 40 questions for this topic are grouped into, with the number of questions on each. They are a fair map of where the weight sits.
| Sub-topic | Questions |
|---|---|
| EMQ: Caries risk factor matched to its mechanism | 8 |
| EMQ: Preventive intervention matched to risk group | 8 |
| The caries process and its aetiology | 6 |
| Caries risk assessment and recall | 5 |
| Preventive advice by age band | 5 |
| Early childhood caries | 4 |
| Plaque control and toothbrushing | 4 |
Sub-topics beginning “EMQ” are extended matching questions: one stem, one right answer, and a list of up to 9 options to choose it from. They are testing whether you can discriminate between neighbouring answers, not whether you recognise the right one.
Study guide
The foundation topic of the oral health education certificate. Its account of caries — dietary sugars, plaque bacteria, acid, demineralisation — is the account Delivering Better Oral Health gives, and several distractors in the bank are other real processes (erosion, abrasion, spread of infection) dressed up as caries. Knowing what caries is not turns out to be as examinable as knowing what it is.
The caries process
One mechanism, precisely stated, and several plausible impostors.
- Caries requires dietary sugars, plaque bacteria and time; acid produced by bacteria demineralises enamel.
- Acid erosion is a different process with no bacterial step, and belongs to tooth wear rather than caries.
- Abrasion from brushing is mechanical, not carious. Distinguishing these three is a recurring question type.
Risk assessment and recall
Risk drives the whole preventive plan, including how often the patient is seen.
- Caries risk assessment considers more than the current cavity count; the assessment expects you to identify which factors raise risk.
- Recall interval follows from risk rather than from habit, and questions test that link.
- Extended matching questions pair a described risk factor with the mechanism by which it acts.
Preventive advice by age band
The advice changes with age, and the age bands are the examinable structure.
- Interventions are recommended by age band and by risk level together, not by one alone.
- Extended matching questions ask you to match a preventive intervention to a risk group — practise from the group towards the intervention.
- Toothbrushing and plaque control advice sits alongside the age-banded interventions rather than replacing them.
Early childhood caries
A distinct pattern with distinct causes and distinct advice.
- The pattern of teeth affected in early childhood caries is characteristic and is examined.
- Feeding practices are central to both cause and prevention.
- Advice here is directed at a carer rather than the patient, which changes how it must be delivered.
In the exam Watch for questions that describe a process and ask you to name it — the wrong options are usually genuine processes that simply are not caries. And read every preventive question for the age and risk of the person described, because the same intervention is right for one group and wrong for another.
Practise this topic now
12 questions from this topic, free, with the explanation shown as soon as you answer. No sign-up, and nothing is recorded.
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Periodontal Health and BPE
BPE codes and the actions they trigger, the disease process, plaque and calculus control, interdental cleaning.
Diet and Nutrition
Free sugars and their sources, frequency and the Stephan curve, dietary acid and erosion, advice by age.
Fluoride and Varnish
Toothpaste concentrations and amounts, varnish, mouthrinse, fluorosis, and water and milk fluoridation.
Revise anywhere, with the whole Radiography & Post-Reg bank
This site publishes the app's free sample — 48 of 780 questions, across 4 of 17 topics. Dental Radiography & Post-Reg carries the full bank offline across all 4 certificates, so you can revise on the bus, between patients, or the night before.
- All 780 questions
- Every question across all 4 certificates, including the 13 topics this site cannot unlock.
- 75-question mock test
- Timed at 90 minutes, drawn from one certificate at a time.
- An explanation every time
- Every answer explains itself and cites where it comes from, right or wrong.
- Progress you can see
- History and per-topic results show which certificates still need the work.
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