Negligible therapeutic impact, false-positives, overdiagnosis and lead-time are the reasons why radiographs bring more harm than benefits in the caries diagnosis of preschool children.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To evaluate the clinical course and interventions required during two years of follow-up of dental surfaces of deciduous molars diagnosed, and consequently treated, by two different strategies: diagnosis made by clinical examination alone or associated with radiographs.

Methods

This is a secondary analysis of a two-arm randomized clinical trial with parallel groups related to the diagnostic strategy for caries detection in preschool children. 216 children (3-6 years old) were followed-up for two years. All dental surfaces were diagnosed by visual inspection and later, through radiographic assessment. Baseline treatment was made in accordance with the results obtained by visual inspection performed alone or combined with radiographic method, considering the allocat

SUBMITTER: Pontes LRA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8011211 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature