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Evidence-Based Caries Prevention pp 41–56Cite as

The Assessment of Carious Lesion Activity and Caries Risk

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Abstract

Carious lesion activity assessment and caries risk assessment (CRA) are essential tools that assist professionals in proper caries management. This is to say that the management of carious lesions, the prescription of caries control measures, and the frequency with which these measures are applied vary according to the patient’s current caries activity and caries risk profile. Carious lesion activity should be assessed with the Nyvad criteria which have shown prognostic value in clinical trials and which guide the professional to the most appropriate treatment decision. Assessment of caries risk is not always straightforward. Although many attempts have been made to define which factor(s) should be taken into account to better predict new carious lesions, many of the CRA tools currently available have limited validity. When a single factor is used for predicting carious lesions, the patient’s past caries experience has been shown to be the most accurate predictor factor. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the evidence about CRA and carious lesion activity assessment and to discuss, through providing a few clinical cases as examples, the importance of these concepts in caries management.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

    Soraya C. Leal DDS, MSc, PhD (Professor)

  2. Department of Dental Pathology, Operative Dentistry and Endodontics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Bente Nyvad DDS, MPH, PhD, Dr Odont (Professor)

Authors
  1. Soraya C. Leal DDS, MSc, PhD
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  2. Bente Nyvad DDS, MPH, PhD, Dr Odont
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Soraya C. Leal DDS, MSc, PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Dentistry, Department of Pedodontics, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey

    Ece Eden

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Leal, S.C., Nyvad, B. (2016). The Assessment of Carious Lesion Activity and Caries Risk. In: Eden, E. (eds) Evidence-Based Caries Prevention. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40034-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40034-1_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40032-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40034-1

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