Drill-free filling technique could be used around the country after successful trial.
Researchers may have solved the problem of children's fear of dental treatment: don't use the drill.
A trial of a new drill-free technique on the decayed baby molars of patients aged 5 to 8 found that these children experienced less dental anxiety than those treated conventionally.
The so-called Hall technique, named after its Scottish developer, involves cementing a stainless steel crown over a decayed primary molar, rather than drilling out the decay and packing a filling into the hole.
The process of decay stops or slows down because it is starved of nutrients by the crown. The crown stays in place until it falls out naturally with the tooth.