Assessment of cavitated and active non-cavitated caries lesions in 3-to 4-year-old preschool children: a field study

Background. The prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) is high in developing countries; thus, sensitive methods for the early diagnosis of ECC are of prime importance to implement the appropriate preventive measures. Aim. To investigate the effects of the addition of early caries lesions (ECL) into WHO threshold caries detection methods on the prevalence of caries in primary teeth and the epidemiological profile of the studied population. Design. In total, 351 3-to 4-year-old preschoolers participated in this cross-sectional study. Clinical exams were conducted by one calibrated examiner using WHO and WHO + ECL criteria. During the exams, a mirror, a ball-ended probe, gauze, and an artificial light were used. The data were analysed by Wilcoxon and Mc-Nemar's tests (a = 0.05). Results. Good intra-examiner Kappa values at tooth /surface levels were obtained for WHO and WHO + ECL criteria (0.93 /0.87 and 0.75 /0.78, respectively). The dmfs scores were significantly higher (P < 0.05) when WHO + ECL criteria were used. ECLs were the predominant caries lesions in the majority of teeth. Conclusions. The results strongly suggest that the WHO + ECL diagnosis method could be used to identify ECL in young children under field conditions, increasing the prevalence and classification of caries activity and providing valuable information for the early establishment of preventive measures