Dentists' decision strategies for suspicious occlusal caries lesions in a National Dental PBRN study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Case presentations (vignettes) were completed by dentists in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network study "Decision Aids for the Management of Suspicious Occlusal Caries Lesions (SOCLs)". The objective was to determine dentists' decision strategies for SOCLs.

Methods

107 dentists viewed a series of 16 vignettes that represented all combinations of 4 clinical cues: color, luster, lesion roughness, and patient-level caries risk. Each vignette included a patient description and a photograph of a tooth presenting the 4 cues. Dentists were asked to decide the likelihood that a suspected lesion extended into dentin. A lens model analysis was used to examine how dentists use these cues in making their decisions.

Results

86% of dentists had a consistent

SUBMITTER: Makhija SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5803398 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature