Caries Diagnostic Criteria Research Articles

Detection of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus on the Permanent First Molars of the Mosuo People in China

Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus are associated with the development of dental caries. The purpose of this study was to differentiate these bacteria by morphology, biochemical characteristics and PCR, and to compare their occurrence with the prevalence of dental caries in the Mosuo people. Plaque samples were collected from the permanent first molar in 126 Mosuo people (83 females, 43 males, aged 25–55 years, average age 36.1 ± 7.73). Dental status was recorded as DMFT by WHO caries diagnostic criteria. Males had a significantly lower prevalence of caries and DMFT than females: 11.4 vs. 86.9% and 1.65 vs. 6.95, respectively (p < 0.001). Morphological and biochemical tests gave unreliable results. The prevalence of S. mutans and S. sobrinus was 75.4 and 57.1%, respectively. 26.5% of females and 53.5% of males were positive for S. mutans alone, 18.1% of females and 16.3% of males were positive for S. sobrinus alone, while 50.6% of females and 18.6% of males were positive for both S. mutans and S. sobrinus and4.8% of females and 11.6% of maleswere negative for bothspecies. The DMFT scores of subjects positive for both S. mutans and S. sobrinus were significantly higher than of those positive for either S. mutans or S. sobrinus alone. These results indicate that subjects harboring both S. mutans and S. sobrinus have a significantly higher prevalence of dental caries than those with S. mutans or S. sobrinus alone.

Trends in dental caries in Latin American and Caribbean 5-6- and 11-13-year-old children: a systematic review.

To determine trends in dental caries prevalence and severity in Latin America and Caribbean. A systematic review was done of studies published between 1970 and 2000 among 5-6- and 11-13-year-old children that used WHO caries diagnostic criteria. Over the last 30 years, there has been a significant decrease in caries severity for children 5-6 years old and also a significant decrease in caries prevalence and severity for children 11-13 years old. The same broad trends were observed when caries prevalence and severity was analyzed for the last 20 and 10 years but these were not statistically significant. Evidence of a decrease in dental caries in Latin American and Caribbean children has been shown, although the decrease was less prominent in the past few years.

Dental caries in the primary dentition: assessing prevalence of cavitated and noncavitated lesions.

Dental caries in the primary dentition has received renewed attention in recent years because caries in the primary dentition is predictive of later caries experience, and because of efforts to address early childhood caries. More detailed caries diagnostic criteria have been developed and used for the permanent teeth; however, such criteria have not been widely adopted for caries diagnosis in the primary dentition. As part of the Iowa Fluoride Study, caries diagnostic criteria were developed specifically for the primary teeth. The criteria included noncavitated (d1) lesions and cavitated (d2-3) lesions. Examinations were conducted on 698 children in the primary dentition by two trained examiners who did duplicate examinations on 11 percent (n = 67) of these children. Interexaminer agreement for any d1 and any d2-3 lesions at the person level was 100 percent. At the tooth level for d1d2-3f, there was 98.5 percent agreement and kappa was .91. For d1 at the tooth level, agreement was 97.0 percent agreement and kappa = .24. For d2-3 it was 99.4 percent agreement and kappa = .81. Prevalence of untreated d2-3 was 16.5 percent, while that of d1 was 24.1 percent. Nearly 73 percent had no d2-3 or filled surfaces, while over 63 percent had no d1, d2-3, or filled surfaces. Decay experience was most common on the primary second molars. About 56 percent of untreated d2-3 decay was located in the pits and fissures, while 58 percent of d1 decay was located on smooth surfaces. Despite some concern with reliability of diagnosing d1 lesions, it appears that the d1d2-3 criteria are informative and useful in assessing the primary dentition.

Influence of parents' oral health behaviour on oral health status of their school children: an exploratory study employing a causal modelling technique.

The aim of this study was to examine the simultaneous interrelationships between parents' oral health behaviour and the oral health status of their school children. Subjects comprised 296 pairs of parents (mother or father) and their children at an elementary school in Hiroshima. The child's dental examination was performed using the World Health Organization (WHO) caries diagnostic criteria for decayed teeth (DT) and filled teeth (FT). The Oral Rating Index for Children (ORI-C) was used for the child's gingival health examination. Hiroshima University Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI) was used for the assessment of the parents' oral health behaviour. A parent-child behavioural model was tested by the linear structural relations (LISREL) programme. There was a significant correlation between DT and ORI-C (r = - 0.168; P < 0.01). Correlation was found between ORI-C and oral health behaviour in children (OHB-C) (r = 0.182; P < 0.01). OHB-C was significantly associated with the HU-DBI (r = 0.251; P < 0.001). The hypothesized model after some revisions was found to be consistent with the data (chi(2) = 1.3, d.f. = 6, P = 0.97; Goodness of Fit Index = 0.999). Parents' oral health behaviour affected their children's oral health behaviour (P < 0.001). Children's oral health behaviour affected their DT through its effect on gingival health level. Parents' oral health behaviour also had a significant direct effect on their children's DT (P < 0.05). Children's grade affected both DT and their oral health behaviour. Parents' oral health behaviour could influence their children's gingival health and dental caries directly and/or indirectly through its effect on children's oral health behaviour.

Energy and macronutrient intake in relation to dental caries incidence in urban black South African preschool children in 1991 and 1995: the Birth-to-Ten study.

To study energy and macronutrient intake in relation to dental caries incidence among urban black South African children at the ages of 1 and 5 years. Food frequency questionnaires and WHO caries diagnostic criteria were used. The study sample of 1639 urban black children with nutrition and dental information from the 1991 and/or 1995 Birth-to-Ten (BTT) Study interceptions comprised true longitudinal (n = 259) and cross-sectional (n = 1216 for 1991 and n = 164 for 1995) subjects. For the longitudinal group true dmfs (decayed, missing, filled surfaces) incidence and average intakes of energy and macronutrients between 1991 and 1995 were calculated. South Africa. Median macronutrient intakes were not significantly different between the cross-sectional and longitudinal samples. Dental caries prevalences at age 1 were 1.2% and 1.5% for the cross-sectional and longitudinal samples, respectively. By age 5 these values were 60.4% and 62.2%, respectively. The median dmfs score at age 1 was 0. At 5 years this was 2 for all children and 5 for those with caries. Statistical analysis for trend at age 5 showed a significant increase in caries prevalence with increasing energy, carbohydrate and added sugar in the cross-sectional sample only. The only significant changes in dmfs scores were seen for energy and added sugar for the whole sample. The r values between log(dmfs incidence + 0.3) and the average nutrient log variables were low, and a general linear models analysis showed no statistically significant effects on log(dmfs incidence + 0.3) of any of the log nutrient variables. For the relationship between macronutrient intake and caries (prevalence and incidence), a cross-sectional and true longitudinal study gave similar results.

Prevalence and Severity of Dental Caries in 12-Year-Old Children in Kaunas, Lithuania 1995

In order to evaluate suitable strategies for control of dental caries, a longitudinal study of caries progression has been initiated among 12-year-old children in Kaunas, Lithuania. The aim of the present paper was to describe the baseline caries situation in a sample of 12-year-olds, who had been examined using caries diagnostic criteria which differentiate between active and inactive caries lesions at both the cavitated and non-cavitated levels. The mean fluoride concentration in the drinking waters of Kaunas is 0.16 mg/l. A total of 889 children in the 6th grade from seven selected schools were examined. Each tooth surface of all permanent teeth was classified according to one of the following criteria: 0 = sound; 1 = active, surface intact; 2 = active, surface discontinuity; 3 = active, cavity; 4 = inactive, surface intact; 5 = inactive, surface discontinuity; 6 = inactive, cavity; 7 = filled; 8 = filled with inactive lesion; 9 = filled with active lesion; X = extracted. Distinction between active and inactive lesions was made on the basis of a combination of visual and tactile criteria. Virtually all children (99.7%) had experienced at least 1 DMF surface. The mean DMFS was 15.8. Half of the mean caries experience consisted of surfaces with active lesions (7.9), of which two thirds (4.9) were non-cavitated. The mean number of surfaces with non-cavitated inactive lesions was 4.4. The mean DMFT constituted 7.9; 95% of all first molars were affected, followed by the second molars (61%). A comparison of the caries profile according to the present caries diagnostic criteria with those recommended by WHO revealed that the WHO criteria yielded much lower DMFS and DMFT values, because this scoring system does not include non-cavitated caries lesions. The high level of non-cavitated active caries lesions suggests that in this population caries may to a large extent be controlled by simple preventive measures including use of topical fluorides.

Assessing the stage of caries lesion activity on the basis of clinical and microbiological examination

The dynamic nature of caries lesion progression may require that classification of caries lesions makes distinctions in activity status. The aim of the present review was to compile and discuss the literature which pertains to clinical assessment of caries lesion activity, and to examine whether recent developments in microbiological research may justify the use of microbiological methods for evaluation of caries activity. Clinical observations suggest that caries lesion progression can be arrested at any stage of lesion development, provided that clinically plaque-free conditions are obtained. However, there is no universal level of oral hygiene to be recommended. The diagnoses "active" and "inactive/arrested" caries have been validated by a range of histological and chemical methods which have supported a separation into distinct clinical categories. Simple microbiological methods have so far not been useful in differentiating between active and inactive caries lesions. Very few studies have evaluated the inter- and intraexaminer reliability of caries diagnostic criteria based on assessment of the activity state of lesions, but recent data indicate that active and inactive caries lesions can be diagnosed with a high degree of reliability. A decision-making tree for dental caries is presented by means of which it is possible to associate the assessment of caries lesion activity with an appropriate treatment modality. It is concluded that research into better methods of assessing caries lesion activity clinically should be stimulated.

Changes in caries diagnostic criteria over time related to the insertion of fillings A comparative study

The attitude toward the need for restorative treatment of carious approximal tooth surfaces changed gradually during the 1970s. The depth of the carious lesions and an assessment of their progression rate was recommended to be the basis for decisions of whether preventive measures or restorative therapy should be applied. The aim of this study was to examine whether this new view on caries therapy had influenced the treatment of posterior approximal surfaces and the choice of caries diagnostic criteria in studies on changes in caries prevalence over the. The material comprised posterior bitewing radiographs and records from the annual dental care of two groups of teenagers, born in 1964 and 1971, respectively. By means of an index system every approximal surface from the distal surfaces of the first premolars to the mesial surfaces of the second molars was given a caries diagnostic score on the basis of the depth of the lesions. The fillings inserted during the same treatment period as the radiographs had been taken were then grouped on the basis of the scores. At 13 years of age the percentage of fillings inserted in teeth with carious lesions extending into the outer and those extending into the inner half of the enamel was significantly higher in children born in 1964 than in those born in 1971. This was also the case with fillings inserted at 16 years of age in teeth with lesions extending into the inner half of the enamel. On the basis of these results it was concluded that comparisons between the two groups with regard to approximal caries prevalence has to be based on criteria that cover both filling and initial and frank carious lesions. This seems to have a general bearing on comparisons between groups of the same age but with different years of birth.

Dental caries at five and twelve years in a South African Indian community: a longitudinal study.

In 1979, 515 of 767 available Indian children born in Lenasia in 1974 were examined and their dental caries status was described. In 1986, 515 of the original 715 were re-examined in order to determine the pattern of dental caries in the primary and permanent dentitions of the same individuals. In contrast to studies in the literature in which treatment records have been used, both investigations were formal epidemiological field studies using calibrated examiners and WHO (1971) caries diagnostic criteria. A firm association was found between caries in the primary and permanent dentitions (r = 0.34).