Caries risk assessment: a comparison between the computer program ‘Cariogram’, dental students and dental instructors

Abstract

An interactive educational PC‐program for caries risk evaluation, the ‘Cariogram’, was developed. It illustrates the interaction between caries related factors and expresses the caries risk graphically. It also expresses a weighted impact of different aetiological factors on the risk. The aim of this paper was to use the Cariogram program on a set of patients, and to compare the outcome of its risk evaluation with those made by dental students and faculty teachers. A questionnaire was given to the participants, containing descriptions of 5 patients with detailed information on 9 factors generally associated with caries. The participants were asked to rank the patients according to their ‘chance to avoid dental caries’ during the coming year. The results were compared with the assessments obtained from the Cariogram and the similarity calculated by group average cluster analysis. Results: 86% of the respondents ranked the patients for caries risk either identical or with only 1 deviation compared to the program. No difference was seen between students and teachers. The cluster analysis identified 5 distinct patterns of ranking the patients with a maximum distance of 0.6 compared to the program. It was concluded that the ‘opinion’ on caries risk of the Cariogram was in agreement with that of the majority of the responders. In addition, the use of the program induced discussions about the relative impact of caries aetiological factors, and it is believed that the Cariogram can serve as one further option in the teaching of caries risk.