THE HALL TECHNIQUE IN PAEDIATRIC DENTISTRY: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
AND AN “ALL HALL” CASE REPORT WITH A-24 MONTH FOLLOW UP
and this contributed to the self-correction of the high
bite. It was based on a study that looked at recording
the bite, pre/immediate post op/ and six weeks
following SSC placement in 10 child patients. The
measurements were carried out using photos, clinical
measurements, models and laser 3D scanning. The
bite had returned to normal levels after 2 weeks. 15
Recently, in December 2014, a landmark article was
published in the USA supporting the use of the HT
in dental practice. 23 It was a retrospective clinical
study, where the authors found that 97% of SSCs
placed with the HT and 94 % of SSCs placed with
the traditional technique were successful. This study
confirmed that the HT was similar in its successful
outcomes to those SSCs placed conventionally.
This interesting debate within the paediatric dental
circle is still ongoing even as this article is being
written, and the debate is often as emotional
as it is scientific. However, HT is now becoming
more mainstream; it is now taught formally in the
undergraduate curricula in 15 out of 16 dental
schools in the UK 30 and more than half of European
paediatric dentistry postgraduates will consider
using this technique in managing child patients 31
and the HT has recently celebrated its 10 th “formal”
anniversary. 32 Despite it being very popular in parts
of the world such as the UK and New Zealand, there
is still reluctance to practice it in the UAE and the Gulf
Cooperation Council Region as a whole. 33
7. Conclusion
Dental caries is a childhood epidemic disease. While
prevention is of essence, in a society where dental
caries is rampant, its treatment can be challenging
especially in young children. The HT for restoring
the carious primary molar is a newly developed
technique that is based on an old concept: deprive
caries from sugar substrate and it will arrest. The
carious lesion needs to be detected early enough
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on the importance of early diagnosis using clinical
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This will enable the lesion to be caught at a very
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Author Contributions
Equal contribution to the paper.
Acknowledgement
There are no conflicts of interest and no financial
interests to be disclosed. The author would like to
thank the patients and carers who consented to the
use of the photos shown in this article.
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