Cross-sectional study evaluates intraoral photography for caries detection in preschool children, suggesting practical uses in resource-limited settings.
Key Points
This research aims to determine the effectiveness of intraoral photographs for detecting caries lesion activity compared to clinical examinations.
Conducted a cross-sectional study with 180 children aged 3–4 years
Performed full-mouth clinical examinations and intraoral photography
Utilized ICDAS criteria to score caries lesions
Calculated diagnostic accuracy metrics including sensitivity and specificity
Intraoral photographic assessments showed high sensitivity (87%) and specificity (95.7%) for non-cavitated lesions
For cavitated lesions, sensitivity was 85.9% and specificity 97.5% at the tooth level
Surface level validity was moderate: 25.5% sensitivity and 81.2% specificity for non-cavitated lesions
Discrepancies were mostly due to detecting early-stage lesions (ICDAS 1–2) in photographs