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Pilot study of rapid caries treatment needs screening--a brief communication
Harold D Sgan-Cohen1, Alon Livny, Nirit Yavnai
1Department of Community Dentistry, Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel. harolds@cc.huji.ac.il
Objective:
To evaluate a newly developed screening method for caries-related treatment needs.
Methods:
The Rapid Caries Treatment Needs Screening (RCTNS) Index includes five ordinal nominal scores. Comparisons with conventional examinations were conducted among 565 young Israeli adults (aged 23 +/- 5.3 years) by the same dentist.
Results:
According to conventional examination, 79.5 percent demonstrated caries-related treatment needs as compared to 54.9 percent according to RCTNS. The sensitivity of RCTNS was 68.1 percent; specificity was 96.5 percent; positive predictive value was 98.7 percent; and negative predictive value was 43.9 percent. The calculated percentage of explained variance (R2) Of the conventional examination results according to RCTNS was 55.6 percent.
Conclusions:
The data reveal the relevance of a rapid visual screening method for caries-related treatment needs. This is a pilot study that demands further methodological refinement. Preliminary results revealed a potential, which should be further investigated.
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