What dental diseases are we facing in the new millennium: some aspects of the research agenda.

The next decades will show a shift in the attention given to diseases of the dental hard tissues. Clinical evidence on how to prevent dental caries is now available. More emphasis should be given to optimising the rational use of schemes of prevention. Caries still shows epidemic patterns in many countries while in some developed countries a high prevalence of the disease is limited to a small group. Increased attention is needed for new manifestations of pathology such as dental erosion, and for caries in special high-risk groups. New methods of presenting caries prevalence and incidence data should be implemented to ensure that the diseases of the dental hard tissues continue to have an important place on the political and research agendas.