Assessment of dental caries based on ICDAS and WHO criteria: A comparative study.

BACKGROUND: The decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT/dmft) index recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which measures the prevalence of caries based on the presence of cavitated caries lesions, is the most used dental caries index in epidemiological studies. Early diagnosis of noncavitated carious lesions enables preventive measures, which has the potential to prevent dental caries-related morbidity and reduce the financial burden associated with restorative or rehabilitative dental care. The International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS II) incorporates both the cavitated and noncavitated carious lesions with acceptable reliability. AIM: To compare dental caries prevalence based on ICDAS II and WHO criteria. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 362 children visiting People's Dental College and Hospital, Nayabazar, Kathmandu, Nepal to study dental caries prevalence based on the ICDAS II and WHO criteria. RESULTS: Among the study population, 290 (90.34%) and 169 (68.42%) children had dental caries in primary and permanent teeth according to the ICDAS II criteria, whereas according to WHO criteria, 267 (83.18%) and 107 (43.32%) had dental caries in primary and permanent teeth, respectively. The prevalence of dental caries was significantly higher (p < .001) according to ICDAS II criteria than the prevalence based on WHO criteria in both dentitions. CONCLUSION: This study showed a significant difference in dental caries prevalence between the ICDAS II and WHO methods of caries diagnosis. The presence of noncavitated carious lesions was alarming. To enable detection of early/noncavitated carious lesions, ICDAS II rather than WHO criteria of caries diagnosis may be a more a valuable tool.

C-Shaped Canal in Second Molar of Mandible among Cases of Cone Beam Computed Tomography in Tertiary Care Centres: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: C-shaped canal configuration is mostly found in the mandibular second molar. The morphological characteristic of a C-shaped canal is the presence of a fin or web connecting the individual canal, making it difficult for cleaning, shaping, and obturation. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of C-shaped canal in mandibular second molar among cases of Cone Beam Computed Tomography in tertiary care centres. METHODS: The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the department of conservative dentistry and endodontics of tertiary care centres from 20th June 2020 to 20th December 2020 after receiving ethical approval from the Nepal Health Research Council on 19 June 2020. Cone-beam computed tomography images of 199 mandibular second molars with completely formed roots were used. Teeth with orthodontic braces, root resorption, root canal filling, and post were excluded from the study. The research was conducted taking a tooth as a unit. Convenience sampling was done. Statistical analysis was done by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: The prevalence of C-shaped canal according to this study is 25 (12.6%) (7.99-17.21 at 95% Confidence Interval). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the study conclude that C-shaped configuration is quite frequent in mandibular second molar among cases of Cone Beam Computed Tomography. A careful pre-operative radiographic evaluation may be helpful for diagnosing C-shaped configuration prior to root canal treatment.