Morphological Caries-related Characteristics of the Proximal/Occlusal Surface Area between 1^st and 2^nd Primary Molar Teeth in 3-Year Olds.

Objectives: Introduction: In a previous study (Cortes et al., 2015) a substantial and significant correlation between proximal surfaces’ tooth morphology and radiographic-caries presence/absence in 4-yr-old children was reported.
Objective: To explore if this relationship already reported can be seen in 3-yr-old children.
Methods: Methods: Counting with IRB and parents’ signed consents, 72 3-yr-old Colombian children participated. One side of the mouth was randomly selected; first and second upper/lower primary-molar teeth were temporarily separated with an elastic band. Two days after the bands were removed, distal/mesial surfaces were cleaned and dried, and silicone-impressions of proximal-occlusal area taken, followed by bitewing-radiographs. Resin-models of the impressions were made and occlusal 1.6X stereomicroscopic images were obtained. Morphology of the primary molar-teeth proximal-surfaces was scored as: 0-convex mesial and distal surface with minor plaque-retention morphology; 1-concave mesial or distal surface with plaque-retention morphology in one surface, and 2-concave mesial and distal surface with plaque-retention morphology in both surfaces. Surfaces’ radiographic caries status was assessed according to ICDAS: -Score 0 (absence) vs. Scores 1 to 6 (presence). Both morphology and caries were scored twice for each surface. One randomly-selected scored surface from each patient was used in the analysis for a total of 36 pairs of observations (visual and radiographic). This procedure was repeated three times. Cramér coefficient (C) was used to calculate the correlation between morphology and presence/absence of caries.
Results: Results: A total of 144 Models/X-rays were included. Prevalence of caries (d_ICDAS1-4mf-s) was 22,2% and mean caries experience 0,42±0,91. Intra-examiner reproducibility (Weighted-Kappa) for radiographic-ICDAS and dental-morphology scoring was 0.76 and 0.81, respectively. The C between pairs of observations was 0,29, 0,24, and 0,27 (p-values >0.05)
Conclusions: Conclusion: The substantial and significant correlation between proximal surfaces’ tooth morphology in deciduous molar teeth and the radiographic-caries presence/absence seen in 4-yr-old children could not be identified at the age of 3-yr-old.