The Assessment of Carious Lesion Activity and Caries Risk

Abstract

Carious lesion activity assessment and caries risk assessment (CRA) are essential tools that assist professionals in proper caries management. This is to say that the management of carious lesions, the prescription of caries control measures, and the frequency with which these measures are applied vary according to the patient’s current caries activity and caries risk profile. Carious lesion activity should be assessed with the Nyvad criteria which have shown prognostic value in clinical trials and which guide the professional to the most appropriate treatment decision. Assessment of caries risk is not always straightforward. Although many attempts have been made to define which factor(s) should be taken into account to better predict new carious lesions, many of the CRA tools currently available have limited validity. When a single factor is used for predicting carious lesions, the patient’s past caries experience has been shown to be the most accurate predictor factor. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the evidence about CRA and carious lesion activity assessment and to discuss, through providing a few clinical cases as examples, the importance of these concepts in caries management.