Developing a caries risk assessment model for patients attending University Malaya dental clinic

Abstract

Aim: In response to the introduction of an integrated dental education program at University of Malaya (UM) in 2011, a study was conducted to develop a caries risk assessment model (CRA) for use in non-surgical caries management for Year 3 and 4 students of the new integrated program. Methods: The CRA model was based on risk indicators used by dental students in the Preventive Dental Clinic (PDC). Patients aged 15 years and above who attended the PDC for the first time in year 2009 and 2010 were used as study sample. Four hundred and fourteen patient names were identified from the student PDC logbook. Of the 414, 359 dental records had complete data and included in the analysis. Data were analysed using SPSS version 17.0. Chi-square test was used for group comparison and associated factors for coronal caries were analysed using Multiple Logistic Regression (MLR). Results: The final model showed that adults, brushing teeth once daily, and not having dental prosthesis/appliance were 3.31 (CI=1.64-6.69), 2.53 (CI=1.19-5.40), and 2.25 (CI=1.25-4.10) more likely to develop coronal caries, respectively, than adolescents, brushing teeth at least twice a day, and having dental prosthesis/appliance. Conclusions: The results indicate that age group, toothbrushing frequency and dental prosthesis status are significant indicators for coronal caries among patients. Outcomes of the study contributed towards bridging the gap between cariology and preventive modules in the new integrated dental program.

Caries Assessment by ORATEST in school going children: A cross sectional study

“…caries activity was significantly less in the older population. This is in congruence with the research reported by Asma et al and Qasim et al regarding age and caries cavity 24,25 A study by Alves et al reported that eruption stage was significantly associated with occlusal caries activity 30 .The author also reported that partially erupted molar as compared to fully erupted were five times more likely to have active caries but only second molars were evaluated 30 . Our study also reported similar results and found a significant association between eruption status of first molar with caries activity.…”

“…A higher Oratest time was recorded for females in our study, but the result was not statistically significant. Multiple other studies have also reported similar results [23][24][25] . However, higher Oratest time in males as compared to females was reported by Ambati et al 13 but the results were not significant.…”