A New Approach For Interexaminer Reliability Data Analysis On Dental Caries Calibration

Objectives: a) to evaluate the interexaminer reliability in caries detection considering different diagnostic thresholds and b) to indicate, by using Kappa statistics, the best way of measuring interexaminer agreement during the calibration process in dental caries surveys. Methods: Eleven dentists participated in the initial training, which was divided into theoretical discussions and practical activities, and calibration exercises, performed at baseline, 3 and 6 months after the initial training. For the examinations of 6-7-year-old schoolchildren, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations were followed and different diagnostic thresholds were used: WHO (decayed/missing/filled teeth - DMFT index) and WHO + IL (initial lesion) diagnostic thresholds. The interexaminer reliability was calculated by Kappa statistics, according to WHO and WHO+IL thresholds considering: a) the entire dentition; b) upper/lower jaws; c) sextants; d) each tooth individually. Results: Interexaminer reliability was high for both diagnostic thresholds; nevertheless, it decreased in all calibration sections when considering teeth individually. Conclusion: The interexaminer reliability was possible during the period of 6 months, under both caries diagnosis thresholds. However, great disagreement was observed for posterior teeth, especially using the WHO+IL criteria. Analysis considering dental elements individually was the best way of detecting interexaminer disagreement during the calibration sections.156480485Assaf, A.V., Meneghim, M.C., Zanin, L., Mialhe, F.L., Pereira, A.C., Ambrosano, G.M.B., Assessment of different methods for diagnosing dental caries in epidemiological surveys (2004) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 32, pp. 418-425Assaf, A.V., Meneghim, M.C., Zanin, L., Cortellazzi, K.L., Pereira, A.C., Ambrosano, G.M.B., Effect of different diagnostic thresholds on dental caries calibration (2006) J Public Health Dentistry, 66, pp. 17-22Assaf, A.V., Meneghim, M.C., Zanin, L., Tengan, C., Pereira, A.C., Effect of different diagnostic thresholds for dental caries calibration - a 12 month evaluation (2006) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 34, pp. 213-219Brasil, da Saúde, M., SB Brasil (2002) Projeto, , Condições de saúde bucal da população brasileira:, Brasília, DF;, 2003 2004Cohen, J.A., Coefficient of agreement for nominal scales (1960) Education and Psychological Measurement, 20, pp. 37-46Fyffe, H.E., Deery, C., Nugent, Z.J., Nuttall, N.M., Pitts, N.B., Effect of diagnostic threshold on the validity and reliability of epidemiological caries diagnosis using the Dundee Selectable Threshold Method for caries diagnosis (DSTM) (2000) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 28, pp. 42-51Landis, J.R., Koch, G.G., The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data (1977) Biometrics, 33, pp. 159-174Marthaler, T.M., Changes in dental caries 1953-2003 (2004) Caries Res, 38, pp. 173-181Mitropoulos, C.M., Lennon, M.A., Worthington, H.V., A national calibration exercise for the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry regional examiners (1990) Community Dent Health, 7, pp. 179-187Ministério da Saúde, (1988) Levantamento epidemiológico em saúde bucal: Brasil, Zona Urbana, 1986, , Brasília: Centro de Documentação, Ministério da Saúde;Nuttall, N.M., Paul, J.W., The analysis of inter-dentist agreement in caries prevalence studies (1985) Community Dent Health, 2, pp. 123-128Nyvad, B., Machiulskiene, V., Baelum, V., Construct and predictive validity of clinical caries diagnostic criteria assessing lesion activity (2003) J Dent Res, 82, pp. 117-122Nyvad, B., Machiulskiene, V., Baelum, V., Reliability of a new caries diagnostic system differentiating between active and inactive caries lesions (1999) Caries Res, 33, pp. 252-260Peres, M.A., Traebert, J., Marcenes, W., Calibração de examinadores para estudos epidemiológicos de cárie dentária (2001) Cad Saude Publica, 17, pp. 153-159Pine, C.M., Pitts, N.B., Nugent, Z.J., British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD) guidance on the statistical aspects of training and calibration of examiners for surveys of child dental health. A BASCD coordinated dental epidemiology programme quality standard (1997) Community Dent Health, 14 (SUPPL. 1), pp. 18-29Sim, J., Wright, C.C., The kappa statistic in reliability studies: Use, interpretation, and sample size requirements (2005) Phys Ther, 85, pp. 257-268Oral health surveys (1997) Basic methods, , World Health Organization, 4th ed. Geneva: WHO

Influence Of Socioeconomic Clinical And Demographic Variables On Caries Experience Of Preschool Children In Piracicaba, Sp

AIM: To evaluate the influence of socioeconomic, clinical and demographic variables on caries experience in 5-year-old preschool children in Piracicaba. METHODOLOGY: The sample consisted of 728 children attending 22 public (n=428) and 18 private (n=300) preschools. Dental caries was measured using the dmft/dmfs indexes and by detecting initial caries lesion (IL). Gingivitis, crowding, spacing, fluorosis and mouth breathing were also recorded. The socioeconomic variables (monthly family income, number of people living in the household, parents' educational level, home ownership and car ownership) were collected by means of a semi structured questionnaire answered by the children's parents. RESULTS: The mean (standard deviation) values for dmft and dmfs indexes were 1.30 (2.47) and 3.08 (7.55) respectively; and 62.2% of the children were caries-free. The mean (standard deviation) values for dmft+LI and dmfs+LI were 1.72 (3.36) and 3.45 (7.94), respectively and 59.7% were caries-free. By means of multiple logistic regression analyses, children with fluorosis (OR=0.40) or family income > 4 minimum wages (OR=0.49) presented lower probabilility of having caries experience. Those with gingivitis (OR=1.87) were more prone to having the disease. Considering the diagnostic threshold including IL, the multiple logistic regression analyses showed that children with fluorosis (OR=0.39) or family income > 4 minimum wages (OR=0.52) were less prone to having caries. Those with gingivitis (OR=1.80), crowding (OR=2.63 e OR=1.01) or mouth breathing (OR=1.37) presented more probability of having the disease. CONCLUSION: The preschool children who presented gingivitis, crowding, mouth breathing or monthly family income £ 4 minimum wages had more probability of having caries experience. Thus, it would be essential to plan preventive and operative caries control actions targeting these children.123Downer, M.C., Caries prevalence in the United Kingdom (1994) Int Dent J, 44, pp. 365-370Marthaler, T.M., O'mullane, D.M., Vrbic, V., The prevalence of dental caries in Europe 1990-1995 (1996) Caries Res, 30 (4), pp. 237-255Pitts, N.B., Evans, D.J., Nugent, Z.J., Pine, C.M., The dental caries experience of 12-year-old children in England and Wales. Surveys co-ordinated by the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry in 2000/2001 (2002) Community Dent Health, 19, pp. 46-53Pieper, K., Schulte, A.G., The decline in dental caries among 12-year-old children in Germany between 1994 and 2000 (2004) Community Dental Health, 21, pp. 199-206(1988) Levantamento epidemiológico em saúde bucal: Brasil, zona urbana 1986, , Brasil. Ministério da Saúde, Brasília, M.SCPO-D médio nas capitais Brasileiras, 1996 (2000), http://www.saude.gov.br/programas/bucal, Brasil. Ministério da Saúde, Disponível na InternetProjeto SB Brasil 2003: condições de saúde bucal da população brasileira 2002-2003 - resultados principais, p. 2004. , Brasil. Ministério da Saúde, Brasília: Ministério da SaúdePereira, A.C., Biscaro, S.L., Moreira, B.H.W., Condições bucais de escolares de 7 a 12 anos de idade, após 20 anos de fluoretação das águas de abastecimento público de Piracicaba (1995) Rev Paul Odontol, 17 (3), pp. 30-36Pereira, A.C., Mialhe, F.L., Bianchim, F.L.C., Meneghim, M.C., Prevalência de cárie e fluorose dentária em escolares de cidades com diferentes concentrações de flúor na água de abastecimento (2001) Rev Bras Odont Saúde Coletiva, 2 (1), pp. 34-39Weyne, S.C., A construção do paradigma de promoção de saúde: Um desafio para as novas gerações (1997) Promoção de Saúde Bucal, pp. 1-26. , In: Krieger L, coordenador, São Paulo: Artes MédicasPinto, V.G., (2000) Saúde Bucal Coletiva, , 4a ed. Editora São Paulo: SantosNadanovsky, P.O., Declínio da cárie (2000) Saúde Bucal Coletiva, pp. 341-351. , In: Pinto VG, coordenador, São Paulo: Editora SantosAndrade, M., Como está o sorriso do Brasil? (2000) Revista da ABO Nacional, 8, pp. 134-135Loretto, N.R.M., Seixas, Z.A., Jardim, M.C., Brito, R.L., Cárie dentária no Brasil: Alguns aspectos sociais, políticos e econômicos (2000) Revista da ABO Nacional, 8, pp. 45-49Ribeiro, A.G., Oliveira, A.F., Rosenblatt, A., (2005) Cárie precoce na infância: prevalência e fatores de risco em pré-escolares, aos 48 meses, na cidade de João Pessoa, 21 (6), pp. 1695-1700. , Paraíba, Brasil. Cad Sau ́de Pu ́blicaPitts, N.B., Longbottom, C., Preventive Care Advised (PCA)/ Operative Care Advised (OCA) - categorising caries by the management option (1995) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 23, pp. 55-9Pitts, N.B., Fyffe, H.E., The effect of varying diagnostic thresholds upon clinical caries data for a low prevalence group (1988) J Dent Res, 67, pp. 592-596Ismail, A.I., Clinical diagnosis of precavitated carious lesions (1997) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 25, pp. 13-23Pitts, N.B., Diagnostic tools and measurements-impact on appropriate care (1997) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 25, pp. 24-35Warren, J.J., Steven, M.L., Kanellis, M.J., Dental caries in the primary dentition: Assessing prevalence of cavitated and non-cavitated lesions (2002) J Public Health Dent, 62, pp. 109-114Nyvad, B., Machiulskiene, V., Baelum, V., Reliability of a new caries diagnostic system differentiating between active and inactive caries lesions (1999) Caries Res, 33, pp. 252-260Fyffe, H.E., Deery, C., Nugent, Z.J., Nuttall, N.M., Pitts, N.B., Effect of diagnostic threshold on the validity and reliability of epidemiological caries diagnosis using the Dundee Selectable Threshold Method for caries diagnosis (DSTM) (2000) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 28, pp. 42-51Assaf, A.V., de Castro Meneghim, M., Zanin, L., Tengan, C., Pereira, A.C., Effect of different diagnostic thresholds on dental caries calibration - a 12 month evaluation (2006) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 34, pp. 213-219Assaf, A.V., Meneghim, M.C., Zanin, L., Cortellazzi, K.L., Pereira, A.C., Ambrosano, G.M.B., Effect of different diagnostic threshold on dental caries calibration (2006) J Public Health Dent, 66 (1), pp. 17-22Ekstrand, K.R., Kuzmina, I.N., Kuzmina, E., Christiansen, M.E.C., Two and a half-year outcome of caries-preventive programs offered to groups of children in the Solntsevsky District of Moscow (2000) Caries Res, 34, pp. 8-19Forgie, A.H., Paterson, M., Pine, C.M., Pitts, N.B., Nugent, Z.J., A randomized controlled trial of the caries preventive efficacy of a chlorhexidine-containing varnish in high- caries-risk adolescents (2000) Caries Res, 34, pp. 432-439Nyvad, B., Machiulskiene, V., Baelum, V., Construct and predictive validity of clinical caries diagnostic criteria assessing lesion activity (2003) J Dent Res, 82 (2), pp. 117-122Ismail, A.I., Brodeur, J.M., Gagnon, P., Payette, M., Picard, D., Hamalian, T., Prevalence of non-cavitated and cavitated carious lesions in a random sample of 7-9-year-old schoolchildren in Montreal, Quebec (1992) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 20, pp. 250-255Biscaro, M.R.G., Fernandez, R.A.C., Pereira, A.C., Meneghim, M.C., Influência das lesões pré-cavitadas em relação às necessidades de tratamento em escolares de baixa prevalência de cárie (2000) Rev Bras Odont Saúde Coletiva, 1 (2), pp. 57-64Fejerskov, O., Manji, F., Risk assessment in dental caries (1990) Risk assessment in dentistry, pp. 215-217. , In: , Bader JD, editor. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Dental EcologyCypriano, S., Sousa, M.L.R., Rihs, L.B., Wada, R.S., Saúde bucal dos pré-escolares, Piracicaba, Brasil, 1999 Rev. Saúde Pública 2003, 37 (2), pp. 247-253Levantamentos básicos em saúde bucal (1999) Tradução de Ana Júlia Perrotti Garcia, p. 66. , Organização Mundial da Saúde, 4.ed. São Paulo: Santos, Título original: Oral health surveys - basic methodsAinamo, J., Bay, I., Problems and proposal for recording gingivitis and plaque (1975) Int Dent J, 25 (4), pp. 229-35Cons, N.C., Jenny, J., Kohout, F.J., (1986) DAI: the Dental Aesthetic Index, , Iowa City: College of Dentistry University of Iowa(2001), SAS User's Guide: Statistics, version 8.2. Cary [NY]: SAS Institute IncPitts, N.B., Modern concepts of caries measurement (2004) J Dent Res, 83, pp. 43-47. , Spec Iss CIsmail, A., Diagnostic levels in dental public health planning (2004) Caries Res, 38, pp. 199-203Assaf, A.V., Tengan, C., Tagliaferro, E.P.S., Meneghim, Z.P., Meneghim, M.C., Pereira, A.C., Ambrosano, G.M.B., Influence of initial carious lesions on oral health planning (2006) Braz j oral sci, 5 (19), pp. 1217-1222Antunes, J.L., Peres, M.A., Jahn, G.M., Levy, B.B., The use of dental care facilities and oral health: A multilevel approach of schoolchildren in the Brazilian context (2006) Oral Health Prev Dent, 4, pp. 287-94Tappuni, A.R., Challacombe, S.J., Distribution and relation frequency of eight streptococcal species in saliva from predentate and dentate children and adults (1993) J Dent Res, 72 (1), pp. 31-6Gábris, K., Marton, S., Madlena, M., Prevalence of malocclusion in Hungarian adolescents (2006) Eur J Orthod, 28, pp. 467-70Moura, C., Cavalcanti, A.L., Maloclusões, cárie dentária e percepções de estética e função mastigatória: Um estudo de associação. Revista Odonto Ciência - Fac (2007) Odonto/ PUCRS, 22 (57), pp. 256-262Nascimento Filho, E., Mayer, M.P.A., Pontes, P.A.L., Pignatari, A.C.C., Weckx, L.L.M., A respiração bucal é fator de risco para cárie e gengivite? (2003) Rev bras alergia imunopatol, 26 (6), pp. 243-249Grindefjord, M., Dahllöf, G., Ekström, G., Höjer, B., Modéer, T., Caries prevalence in 2.5-year-old children (1993) Caries Res, 27, pp. 505-510Campus, G., Lumbau, A., Lai, S., Solinas, G., Castiglia, P., Socio-economic and behavioural factors related to caries in twelve-year-old Sardinian children (2001) Caries Res, 35, pp. 427-434Maltz, M., Barbachan e Silva, B., Relação entre cárie, gengivite e fluorose e nível socioeconômico em escolares (2001) Rev Saúde Pública, 35 (2), pp. 170-176Freire, M.C.M., Melo, R.B., Silva, A.S., Dental caries prevalence in relation to socioeconomic status of nursery school children Goiânia-GO, Brazil (1996) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 24, pp. 357-61. , Freire MCMPeres, K.G.A., Bastos, J.R.M., Latorre, M.R.D.O., Severidade de cárie em crianças e relação com aspectos sociais e comportamentais (2000) Rev Saúde Pública, 34 (4), pp. 402-8Baldani, M.H., Vasconcelos, A.G.G., Antunes, J.L.F., Associação do índice CPO-D com indicadores socioeconômicos e de provisão de serviços odontológicos no Estado do Paraná (2004) Cad Saúde Pública, 20 (1), pp. 143-15

Hopf algebras and Markov chains: Two examples and a theory

The operation of squaring (coproduct followed by product) in a combinatorial Hopf algebra is shown to induce a Markov chain in natural bases. Chains constructed in this way include widely studied methods of card shuffling, a natural "rock-breaking" process, and Markov chains on simplicial complexes. Many of these chains can be explictly diagonalized using the primitive elements of the algebra and the combinatorics of the free Lie algebra. For card shuffling, this gives an explicit description of the eigenvectors. For rock-breaking, an explicit description of the quasi-stationary distribution and sharp rates to absorption follow.Comment: 51 pages, 17 figures. (Typographical errors corrected. Further fixes will only appear on the version on Amy Pang's website, the arXiv version will not be updated.

ENIGMA-anxiety working group : Rationale for and organization of large-scale neuroimaging studies of anxiety disorders

Altres ajuts: Anxiety Disorders Research Network European College of Neuropsychopharmacology; Claude Leon Postdoctoral Fellowship; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, 44541416-TRR58); EU7th Frame Work Marie Curie Actions International Staff Exchange Scheme grant 'European and South African Research Network in Anxiety Disorders' (EUSARNAD); Geestkracht programme of the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, 10-000-1002); Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) program within the National Institute of Mental Health under the Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP, MH002781); National Institute of Mental Health under the Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP, ZIA-MH-002782); SA Medical Research Council; U.S. National Institutes of Health grants (P01 AG026572, P01 AG055367, P41 EB015922, R01 AG060610, R56 AG058854, RF1 AG051710, U54 EB020403).Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and disabling but seem particularly tractable to investigation with translational neuroscience methodologies. Neuroimaging has informed our understanding of the neurobiology of anxiety disorders, but research has been limited by small sample sizes and low statistical power, as well as heterogenous imaging methodology. The ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group has brought together researchers from around the world, in a harmonized and coordinated effort to address these challenges and generate more robust and reproducible findings. This paper elaborates on the concepts and methods informing the work of the working group to date, and describes the initial approach of the four subgroups studying generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. At present, the ENIGMA-Anxiety database contains information about more than 100 unique samples, from 16 countries and 59 institutes. Future directions include examining additional imaging modalities, integrating imaging and genetic data, and collaborating with other ENIGMA working groups. The ENIGMA consortium creates synergy at the intersection of global mental health and clinical neuroscience, and the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group extends the promise of this approach to neuroimaging research on anxiety disorders

Comparison Of Reproducibility Measurements For Calibration Of Dental Caries Epidemiological Surveys [comparação Entre Medidas De Reprodutibilidade Para A Calibração Em Levantamentos Epidemiológicos Da Cárie Dentária]

This study compares three measurements (Kappa, general agreement percentage, or GAP, and dice index) used to determine the reproducibility of caries diagnosis in epidemiological surveys under different clinical diagnostic thresholds. Eleven examiners with previous experience in epidemiological surveys were submitted to a theoretical and clinical calibration process. Data analysis used two caries detection thresholds: World Health Organization (WHO) and WHO with the inclusion of initial enamel lesions (WHO + IL). Twenty-three children 6-7 years of age were examined, with and without caries. Mean values for Kappa index, GAP, and Dice were considered high (≥ 0.90), except for the dice index for the WHO + IL threshold (0.69). Since Kappa is an adjusted agreement index, it can be considered the instrument of choice for calibration of examiners. However, when it is impossible to use, the GAP is recommended together with the dice index in order to orient and improve examiners when examining caries lesions.22919011907SB Brasil 2003: Projeto - Condições de Saúde Oral Da População Brasileira Em 2002-2003, , http://portalweb02.saude.gov.br/portal/arquivos/pdf/ relatorio_brasil_sorridente.pdfNarvai, P.C., Castellanos, R.A., Frazão, P., Prevalência de cárie em dentes permanentes de escolares do Município de São Paulo, SP, 1970-1996 (2000) Rev Saúde Pública, 34, pp. 196-200Susin, C., Rösing, C.K., A importância do treinamento, reprodutibilidade e calibragem para a qualidade dos estudos (2000) Rev Fac Odonto P Alegre, 41, pp. 3-7Escamila-Cejulo, J.A., Pena, J.E., Dominguez, R.C., Viladomat, D.C., La variacion inter observador e intra observador, un problema de validez en los estudios epidemiologicos de presion arterial (1989) Arch Inst Cardiol Mex, 59, pp. 187-193Klein, C.H., Costa, E.A., Os erros de classificação e os resultados de estudos epidemiológicos (1987) Cad Saúde Pública, 3, pp. 236-249Pereira, A.C., Normas operacionais para execução de levantamentos em odontologia (2003) Odontologia Em Saúde Coletiva, pp. 83-116. , Pereira AC, organizador. São Paulo: Editora ArtmedPinto, V.G., (2000) Saúde Bucal Coletiva. 4a Ed., , São Paulo: Editora Santos2000Fyffe, H.E., Deery, C., Nugent, Z.J., Nuttall, N.M., Pitts, N.B., Effect of diagnostic threshold on the validity and reliability of epidemiological caries diagnosis using the Dundee Selectable Threshold Method for caries diagnosis (DSTM) (2000) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 28, pp. 42-51Nuttall, N.M., Paul, J.W., The analysis of inter-dentist agreement in caries prevalence studies (1985) Community Dent Health, 2, pp. 123-128Pine, C.M., Pitts, N.B., Nugent, Z.J., British association for the study of community dentistry (BASCD) guidance on the statistical aspects of training and calibration of examiners for surveys of child dental health. A BASCD coordinated epidemiology programme quality standard (1997) Community Dent Health, 14 (1 SUPPL.), pp. 18-29Fleiss, J.L., Measuring agreement between two judges on the presence or absence of a trait (1975) Biometrics, 31, pp. 651-659Landis, J.R., Koch, G.G., The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data (1977) Biometrics, 33, pp. 159-174(1997) Oral Health Surveys: Basic Methods. 4th Ed., , Geneva: World Health OrganizationNyvad, B., Machiulskiene, V., Baelum, V., Reliability of a new caries diagnostic system differentiating between active and inactive caries lesions (1999) Caries Res, 33, pp. 252-260Assaf, A.V., Meneghim, M.C., Zanin, L., Pardi, V., Pereira, A.C., Ambrosano, G.M.B., Influence of diagnostic adjuncts to the measurement of caries prevalence at different caries thresholds (2003) Int Dental J, 53, pp. 485-490Assaf, A.V., Meneghim, M.C., Zanin, L., Mialhe, F.L., Pereira, A.C., Ambrosano, G.M.B., Assessment of different methods for diagnosing dental caries in epidemiological surveys (2004) Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 32, pp. 418-425Peres, M.A., Traebert, J., Marcenes, W., Calibração de examinadores para estudos epidemioló gicos de cárie dentária (2001) Cad Saúde Pública, 17, pp. 153-159Frias, A.C., Antunes, J.L.F., Narvai, P.C., Precisão e validade de levantamentos epidemiológicos em saúde bucal: Cárie dentária na cidade de São Paulo, 2002 (2004) Rev Bras Epidemiol, 7, pp. 144-154Deery, C., Care, R., Chesters, R., Huntington, E., Stelmachonoka, S., Gudkina, Y., Prevalence of dental caries in Latvian 11- to 15-year-Old children and the enhanced diagnostic yield of temporary tooth separation, FOTI and electronic caries measurement (2000) Caries Res, 34, pp. 2-7Forgie, A.H., Paterson, M., Pine, C.M., Pitts, N.B., Nugent, Z.J., A randomised controlled trial of the caries-preventive efficacy of a chlorhexidine-containing varnish in high-caries-risk adolescents (2000) Caries Res, 34, pp. 432-439Chesters, R.K., Pitts, N.B., Matuliene, G., Kvedariene, A., Huntington, E., Bendinskaite, R., An abbreviated caries clinical trial design validated over 24 months (2002) J Dent Res, 81, pp. 637-640Luan, W.M., Baelum, V., Fejerskov, O., Chen, X., Ten-year incidence of dental caries in adult and elderly Chinese (2000) Caries Res, 34, pp. 205-213Warren, J.J., Steven, M.L., Kanellis, M.J., Dental caries in the primary dentition: Assessing prevalence of cavitated and non-cavitated lesions (2002) J Public Health Dent, 62, pp. 109-114Nyvad, B., Machiulskiene, V., Baelum, V., Construct and preditive validity of clinical caries diagnostic criteria assessing lesion activity (2003) J Dent Res, 82, pp. 117-12

Evaluation Of An Educational Program For Children With High Risk Of Caries

The goal of this study was to evaluate a 15-month educational program designed to children. The sample consisted of 60 six-year olds, randomly assigned into control and experimental group. The control consisted of tooth brushing training, once a year. The experimental group received intensive individual tooth brushing training every three months and guidance on oral health. Initially, both groups were assessed using plaque, gingival, dmfs and DMF-S indexes every three months. In the control, no statistically significant difference was observed for plaque and gingival indexes. The experimental group showed a statistically significant reduction in mean values for two indexes. The caries indexes showed no statistically significant difference. The proposed educational program developed was efficient in reducing gingival and plaque indexes as well caries incidence.31424625

Comparison Of Epidemiological Evaluations Under Different Caries Diagnostic Thresholds.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of different settings, epidemiological and clinical, and different diagnostic thresholds on caries detection in a group of 7-10-year-old children in Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 983 children aged 7-10 years old and enrolled in four public schools were randomly selected. Three examiners performed epidemiological examinations followed by an examination of the same children in a clinical setting. The examinations of cleaned and dried teeth in both settings were carried out using a dental mirror and ball-ended probe, under natural light in the epidemiological setting examinations and under artificial light during the clinical setting examinations. For the analysis of results, comparisons were focused on WHO (World Health Organization) diagnostic thresholds versus WHO+IL (initial lesions) diagnostic thresholds, both under epidemiological conditions, in order to demonstrate the influence of the inclusion of IL in the study; and WHO+IL in the epidemiological setting versus WHO+IL in the clinical setting, aiming to demonstrate the importance of examination setting. Outcome measures were dmfs, DMFS, ds, Ds, sealants and number of children 'free' of caries. Paired t-test and McNemar's test were used to test the difference between means and proportions for each age group. RESULTS: Epidemiological examinations, under the WHO diagnostic threshold, showed significant differences for all outcome measures when compared with the WHO +IL threshold. Statistical differences were also detected when comparingthe WHO+IL threshold under different settings. CONCLUSION: The choice of a diagnostic threshold (WHO or WHO+IL) and the conditions of examination (epidemiological or clinical) were important for caries detection.5213714