International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS): A New Concept

Dental caries is a complex multifactorial disease of the calcified tissues of the teeth, caused by interaction of various factors including the host, agent, substrate and time as demonstrated by the Keyes circle. Detecting carious lesion at the earliest possible stage of its development is definitely helpful in appropriate treatment planning for the same. The lack of consistency among the contemporary criteria systems for detecting carious lesions limits the comparability of outcomes measured in epidemiological and clinical studies. Therefore, the ICDAS criteria was developed by an international team of caries researchers to integrate several new criteria systems into one standard system for caries detection and assessment. It is a clinical scoring system for use in dental education, clinical practice, research, and epidemiology, and provides a framework to support and enable personalized total caries management for improved long-term health outcomes.