In the abstract of their January JADA article, "Minimally Invasive Dentistry," Drs. Carol Anne Murdoch-Kinch and Mary Ellen McLean state, "During the past few decades, scientific developments in cariology, dental materials and diagnostic systems have changed dentistry’s approach to diagnosis and management of dental caries. The authors summarize these developments."
They then offer a review of the topic, followed by 46 literature citations claiming to "summarize" the topic. Reference is made to one paper from 1951, another from 1992 and the 44 others are from 1996 or later. The term "preventive resin restoration" is mentioned with no attribution to Dr. Richard J. Simonsen, the originator of this type of dental restoration.
The authors also give two references for progressive loss of tooth structure leading to restoration replacement and additional loss of tooth structure with references from 1998 and 2001, and completely ignore the whole body of Dr. Simonsen’s work, in particular his 1978 book, "Clinical Applications of the Acid Etch Technique."1 Many consider this book the original compilation of material that advocated minimally invasive dentistry.
Although it is too late to assist anyone reading the present article to have an accurate historical analysis of development of this complex subject, JADA readers need to be aware of the problem. In the spirit of assigning deserved credit and rectifying this oversight, I have listed references at the end of this letter.2–7 Dr. Simonsen published the "Lifecycle of a Molar" diagram in "New Materials on the Horizon."7
There are other Simonsen publications that could be cited, especially his pioneering works on bonded resin sealants that prevent invasive dentistry of any kind, but for the sake of brevity, I have limited this list. In addition, there are numerous other clinicians and researchers who reported their own works in the field of minimally invasive dentistry during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that were overlooked by Drs. Murdoch-Kinch and McLean.
For example, even though laminate restorations are mentioned in the present article, Drs. McLean and Wilson conspicuously are not cited as the developers of the laminate technique, which features separate restoration of lost dentin and enamel using stratified glass-ionomer material and resin-based composite, respectively.8
Certainly it is only human for authors and reviewers to miss some publications for attribution when reviewing a subject. It is not acceptable, however, to ignore or not discover the original and perhaps most important works on the subject at hand, especially in a review paper that purports to summarize a major topic.
For the sake of truth, historical accuracy and courtesy to those who have blazed the trial, authors and article reviewers owe it to current readers and future perusers of the archives to be complete and correct with their reference citations.
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