The Effect of Calibration on Caries Risk Assessment Performance by Students and Clinical Faculty

Area of Science:

• Dental Public Health
• Evidence-Based Dentistry
• Clinical Practice Guidelines

Background:

• Effective caries management relies on accurate caries risk assessment (CRA).
• The Caries Management by Risk Assessment (CAMBRA) protocol's efficiency is compromised by incorrect caries risk level assignments.
• Standardized training and calibration are essential for consistent CRA application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accuracy of caries risk level assignments by dental faculty and students before and after calibration.
• To assess the impact of standardized guidelines and calibration on inter-examiner reliability in CRA.
• To determine if calibration improves the correct assignment rate of caries risk levels.

Main Methods:

• A pre-calibration test involving 22 CRA cases was administered to dental students and faculty.
• Participants received calibration using guidelines for the CRA form.
• A post-calibration test was conducted two months later to assess knowledge retention and application.
• Inter-examiner reliability was measured against a consensus gold standard.

Main Results:

• Pre-calibration, both groups demonstrated poor to fair agreement with the gold standard (students 24.1%, faculty 23.6%).
• Post-calibration, agreement improved significantly to good and very good levels.
• Faculty members showed higher post-calibration correct assignment rates (73.8%) compared to students (47.7%).

Conclusions:

• Calibration with specific guidelines substantially enhances the accuracy of caries risk assessment.
• Standardized training protocols are vital for improving CRA performance among dental professionals.
• Refined guidelines for CRA forms can lead to better patient treatment strategies.