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editorial | Magda Wojtkiewicz Managing Editor “Actually, prevention is the key” Dear Readers, I have been working as an editor at Dental Tribune International for over twelve years and as a clinical editor for its specialist publications, I have witnessed tre mendous changes in many fields of dentistry. In only a few years, analogue become digital and the approach to diagnostics, treatment planning, implant placement and restorative treatment changed completely in dentistry. Currently, the dental professional can design a new smile for a patient before he or she even sits on the dental chair. There are so many new techniques and technol- ogies to apply, but is this really the direction in which dentistry should be developing first of all? A representative YouGov survey performed in 2017 found that one in three adults in the UK do not brush their teeth twice a day, including a third of men. According to a research conducted in 2015 by renowned tooth- paste manufacturer, over 90 per cent of citizens of one of the European countries believe that eating an apple substitutes for brushing. Figures provided by National Smile Month, the UK’s largest and longest-running cam- paign to promote good oral health, show that a third of all children starting school each year have signs of dental caries and tooth extractions are the main reason children are admitted to hospital for general anaesthesia. These are only some of the frightening figures that continue to shock with information about the low level of oral health worldwide. There are still patients who think that they do not have to clean their prostheses and parents who do not brush their children’s primary teeth because, after all, they will fall out anyway. Despite the efforts of the FDI World Dental Federation, the leading global body committed to oral health, which organises educational programmes and awareness campaigns, the level of oral health, even in developed countries like the UK and most of the EU countries, is still unsatisfactory and many people only visit the dentist once they already have a problem. Therefore, in my opinion, there is a great need to make people aware of the risks and health implications that come with poor oral hygiene and that prevention is the key to a beautiful smile, not zirconia crowns or dental implants. Prosthetic solutions are necessity when pre- vention fails, but dental professionals should be primarily focused on prevention, should they not? I feel very grateful that, after so many years of writing and editing articles on how to improve prosthetic solu- tions, I am finally involved in producing a publication about how to prevent oral disease and maintain good oral health, because I believe that this should be a direc- tion in which dentistry should develop primarily. With this in mind, I wish you all happy reading of this year’s first issue of the prevention magazine and hope that the articles will be informative to you and offer you ideas for efficient application in your practice. Yours sincerely, Magda Wojtkiewicz Managing Editor prevention 1 2018 03