Modelling the Bilateral Symmetry of Caries Incidence

Abstract

Background/Aims: Past caries experience has been shown to be the best predictor of the development of caries in the future, and clinical observations suggest that caries develops symmetrically in similar teeth on each side of the mouth. This study investigates whether caries on a given surface can be used as a predictor of future caries on the corresponding surface on the other side of the mouth. Methods: The data come from a 3-year trial examining the caries-preventive efficacy of chlorhexidine varnish on adolescents. A logistic multilevel model was fitted with 3 levels; participant, tooth and surface. The outcome variable was the development of caries into enamel or dentine, after 3 years. Covariates were tooth position, the caries status of the contralateral surface at baseline, the caries status of the corresponding surface in the opposing jaw at baseline, the caries status of adjacent teeth and the total number of decayed, missing, filled surfaces at baseline. Results: The effect of caries at baseline on the contralateral surface was highly significant (odds ratio = 4.80, 95% CI = 4.38–5.38). The effect of caries at baseline on the corresponding surface in the opposing jaw was also significant, but smaller in magnitude (odds ratio = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.49–1.83). Conclusion: Multilevel modelling provides a clinically useful method of estimating the probability of a surface developing caries over a period of time, based on the caries status of the contralateral surface and the corresponding surface in the opposing jaw, while controlling for the natural clustering in tooth surface data.

Contribution to the Viabilityof the DMF-T Simplificationin Adults and Older Adults

“…In this study, the comparison between DMFT index and the simplified DMF2Q index failed to identify differences between mean values found, suggesting the possibility of simplifying the index, regardless of gender and age of the study population as a reliable alternative based on symmetrical distribution of dental caries attack, similarly to other studies [6,11,12,14,16,17].…”

“…Dating back to the 50's, recurrent studies in scientific literature point to dental caries bilateralism, symmetrically affecting corresponding teeth in different quadrants, and this knowledge has promising application in public health [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], in case studies confirm the validity of partial exams to reveal the full manifestation of dental caries in the population.…”

A Model for the Analysis of Caries Occurrence in Primary Molar Tooth Surfaces

“…A random intercepts formulation was utilised, following the practice of other recent hierarchical analyses of caries and other dental data [Gilthorpe et al, 2000a;Bower et al, 2007;Burnside et al, 2007Burnside et al, , 2008.…”

“…The preferred transformation in the analysis of caries data by this method has been the logit link, utilised in the analyses of Rodrigues and Sheiham [2000], Vanobbergen et al [2001], Riley et al [2004] and Burnside et al [2007Burnside et al [ , 2008. Vanobbergen et al [2001] state that logistic regression models using longitudinal data are the preferred method of analysis for caries data.…”

Pattern of dental caries in Korean adolescents with a high risk of caries

“…둘째, 치아우식증은 좌우대칭 으로 발생하는 경향이 있다. 구강을 상하좌우 사분악으로 구분하 여 치아 또는 치면간 우식경험도의 상관성을 분석한 결과, 좌우관 계가 상하관계보다 상관성이 높았고, 같은 치면에서 좌우대칭으 로 발생하였다 7,[13][14][15][16][17] . 셋째, 인구집단에서 치아우식증의 분포는 정 규분포를 하지 않고 편향되어 나타난다 18) .…”