Resumen

MEDINA, Juan Carlos; SALGO, Nicole  y  ACEVEDO, Ana María. Evaluation of the Diagnostic Methods Used for Dental Caries by Venezuelan Dentists. . Acta odontol. venez [online]. 2006, vol.44, n.2, pp.192-198. ISSN 0001-6365.

The use of a probe for dental caries diagnosis is controversial due to its low sensitivity and high specificity. Objective: The goal of this investigation was to identify the methods, procedures and criteria commonly applied and used by a sample of Venezuelan dentists for the detection of dental caries. A survey was used on a sample of 97 dentists who graduated from national universities, and randomly chosen. For the evaluation, a questionnaire was designed and an interview was made by the same investigator. The explorer was used for caries detection by all surveyed dentists (100%), in addition a visual appraisal by 74% and additional use of radiographic methods by 32%. The use of the prophylaxis prior to the evaluation was in 37%. Considering the criteria applied for caries diagnosis by visual evaluation, 58% changes in the translucency as a sign of caries lesion, 81% considered changes in opacity, 88% considered change of color and 90% considered true cavitation. The criteria used by dentists for the diagnosis of caries with the explorer were the detection of soft tissue and catching of the explorer. When analyzing the type of instrument used for diagnosis of caries with the tactile method, the results demonstrated that 62% used a sharp explorer, 38% used a blunt explorer and 79% used a dental thread as diagnostic tools. The results of this investigation indicate that the surveyed dentists use the tactile method for the detection of dental caries; specifically the explorer as the main instrument used for diagnosis. This can lead to a great number of false positives and false negatives due to the criteria with which it’s being applied.

Palabras clave : Caries; Diagnostic Criteria; Methods; Visual Assessment; Tactile Assessment.