The rate of dental caries in developing countries is rising. Because more than 80 percent of the world's children live in these countries, this alarming trend is of great concern from a public health standpoint. Currently, most dental care in developing nations consists of dental surgery in urban areas. Decay is usually left untreated until it becomes so extensive and/or painful that extraction is the only option. Traditional approaches to treating carious lesions have met with marginal success. There is a need for widespread implementation of preventive strategies, which have proven extremely effective in industrialized nations. Also, promising new techniques and materials are being developed that are enabling dentists and dental personnel to make less costly treatment of dental caries more readily available to underserved populations.