TY - JOUR

T1 - Patient caries risk assessment

AU - Twetman, Svante

AU - Fontana, Margherita

N1 - Keywords: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Child; Child, Preschool; DMF Index; Dental Caries; Dental Caries Susceptibility; Forecasting; Humans; Infant; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - Risk assessment is an essential component in the decision-making process for the correct prevention and management of dental caries. Multiple risk factors and indicators have been proposed as targets in the assessment of risk of future disease, varying sometimes based on the age group at which they are targeted. Multiple reviews and systematic reviews are available in the literature on this topic. This chapter focusses primarily on results of reviews based on longitudinal studies required to establish the accuracy of caries risk assessment. These findings demonstrate that there is a strong body of evidence to support that caries experience is still, unfortunately, the single best predictor for future caries development. In young children, prediction models which include a variety of risk factors seem to increase the accuracy of the prediction, while the usefulness of additional risk factors for prediction purposes, as measured until now in the literature, is at best questionable in schoolchildren, adolescents and adults. That is not to say these additional factors should not be assessed to help understand the strength of their associations with the disease experience in a particular patient, and aid in the development of an individualized and targeted preventive and management plan.

AB - Risk assessment is an essential component in the decision-making process for the correct prevention and management of dental caries. Multiple risk factors and indicators have been proposed as targets in the assessment of risk of future disease, varying sometimes based on the age group at which they are targeted. Multiple reviews and systematic reviews are available in the literature on this topic. This chapter focusses primarily on results of reviews based on longitudinal studies required to establish the accuracy of caries risk assessment. These findings demonstrate that there is a strong body of evidence to support that caries experience is still, unfortunately, the single best predictor for future caries development. In young children, prediction models which include a variety of risk factors seem to increase the accuracy of the prediction, while the usefulness of additional risk factors for prediction purposes, as measured until now in the literature, is at best questionable in schoolchildren, adolescents and adults. That is not to say these additional factors should not be assessed to help understand the strength of their associations with the disease experience in a particular patient, and aid in the development of an individualized and targeted preventive and management plan.

U2 - 10.1159/000224214

DO - 10.1159/000224214

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 19494677

VL - 21

SP - 91

EP - 101

JO - Monographs in Oral Science

JF - Monographs in Oral Science

SN - 0077-0892

ER -