Calibrating Pediatric Dental Faculty: Caries Management in Primary Teeth

The purpose of this study was to evaluate caries treatment decisions agreement in primary teeth among board-certified pedi- atric dentistry faculty at a single teaching institution.

Ten full-time faculty selected a treatment for each of 64 primary teeth in 17 children based on clinical photos and radiographs. Cases were presented under three different social and behavioral scenarios. Descriptive and kappa statistics were calculated.

The interrater reliability was 0.59 for the decision at the surgical versus nonsurgical level and 0.55 for the treatment-specific decision (e. g., crown versus extraction). Surgical treatments were the predominant preference (76 percent of responses). Non- surgical treatments were preferred for early-stage lesions and in nonideal social and behavioral scenarios. Surgical options were unanimously preferred in sedation or general anesthesia.

Different clinical scenarios highlight different treatment preferences among faculty. Further emphasis should be placed on calibrating the decision-making process for selecting caries treatment in primary teeth among pediatric dentists.