Patent ID: 7850453

Claim:
A method for preventing and/or treating dental disease, in a patient in need thereof, comprising: (a) providing a retention device for insertion at a dental site for the controlled delivery to said dental site of at least one material having a predetermined intraoral activity, wherein said device comprises at least one matrix containing said at least one material, said device being in a first configuration, and wherein the dental site is an interproximal site or a furcation, said interproximal site comprising an area below the contact area between two dental surfaces or an area of contact of two dental surfaces and surrounding surfaces; (b) dampening said retention device with water; (c) reshaping said retention device from its said first configuration to a second configuration by bending or folding along an axis thereof which is aligned parallel with the direction of its insertion into said dental site, in which second configuration at least one dimension of said retention device is reduced and said retention device has inner facing and outer facing surfaces; and (d) applying said retention device at its said second configuration at said dental site whereby said device is physically affixed and is retained at said dental site in its said second configuration with said outer surfaces resting along said dental surfaces for at least a predetermined time period correlated to the delivery of a predetermined portion of said at least one material to said dental site in a controlled single, bi or multiphase pattern.