Method:
Twenty-eight children 5 to 6 years of age were evaluated for early dental caries. Detection was performed on 163 occlusal surfaces using two methods; VT and EC. Examination was accomplished by two previously calibrated examiners. One performed VT using criteria reported by Radike (1972) as modified by Acevedo et al. (2005); the other used EC. Both examiners were previously standardized for their respective methods. Accordingly, a total of 489 occlusal sites (mesial, central and distal) in the occlusal surfaces of the primary molars were examined.
Result:
These showed that EC detected nine times more caries lesions than visual-tactile means. Diagnostic matrix analysis showed sensitivity and specificity of EC vs. VT of 0.93 and 0.01 for the mesial site; 1.00 and 0.04 for the central site and 1.00 and 0 for the distal site. When the visuo-tactile scores were correlated with EC readings using severity scale for the sound sites detected by visuo-tactile means, only 1.6% were truly sound, 62% percent showed change beneath the enamel and 36.4% showed change that extended into dentin. When a caries lesion was detected by the visuo-tactile method, 41.8% of the lesions was compatible with change beneath the enamel and 58.2% extended into dentin.
Conclusion:
This study demonstrated that EC detects more lesions than by visual-tactile means, presumably because caries lesions detected by EC were detectable at an earlier, smaller lesion stage of caries progression.