The idea is to have a sort of plastic-glue filling that does not require the carries to be drilled out prior to application. Then a less-trained dentist could apply the "glue" to the hole in the tooth. It would kill the bacteria, fill the hole like a filling and look like tooth.
On the dentistry line, i read that a bio-engineered mouth bacteria that does not secrete acid could be applied to the mouth and permanently prevent tooth decay... if that exists.. WOW!
Also in dentistry, a probe the dentist uses to trace the contours of a tooth surface that it is painted in to a 3D image in a computer. The dentist then grinds the tooth away to apply a cap. The surface mapping probe is used again to map the contour of the ground tooth. The computer then mills an exact tooth from the data and it is done in in a few minutes to be set in to place.
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Drilless dentistry sounds great but there are some problems. The outer part of the tooth ( enamel) is 96% inorganic, the inner portion is 75% organic. So just killing the bacteria will not provide a solid base for a filling. One has to not only remove the decay which is bacterial in origin, but also remove the soft residue. There are lasers but they have limitation in contouring and removing old amalgam fillings as they release a lot of mercury. When we ( I am a dentist) remove decay we have to keep in mind the final contour of the filling, we have to avoid the pulp and provide a solid base for the filling material. And once a filling is in place we have to consider the surounding soft tissues ( gums and underlying bone) So it is more complex and there are biocompatibility problems which go well beyond just filling a hole.
I don't know enough about the biology behind the teeth to provide a decent response.
I wonder if a similar tool as they use for cancer radiation treatments could be adopted for dentistry. Kill only the diseased portion of the tooth, and apply an antibiotic compound and then seal the cavity. You wouldn't fill the cavity because there is nothing to hold the filling in unless you drill or you have a compound that can fuse into the decayed portion of the teeth. But a sealer like they apply on stone or steel to keep the tooth from becoming infected further. This might be done in association with cleaning the teeth.