Abstrato

Caries detection: Specificity and sensitivity of the ICDASTM versus the DMFT index

Marcial Guinez Coelho

Globally, untreated dental caries is the most common chronic disease in adults and untreated caries in temporary teeth is the tenth most common chronic disease. Some studies show that 100% of the study population is affected, although they are studies with a limited population It is a multifactorial disease determined by the relationship between protective and risk factors and considered a public health problem due to its prevalence, high cost of treatment, and because it affects people's quality of life . Caries lesions are a product of the biofilm that metabolizes sugars and produce acids, mainly lactic acid; this lowers the pH of the biofilm, creating conditions of subsaturation and demineralization, normally counteracted by remineralization phenomena. If this imbalance, in favor of demineralization, is maintained over time, the loss of minerals can progressively destroy dental tissues. In an initial stage the demineralization of the subsurface is greater than that of the surface, generating an initial lesion called white spot which is reversible through changes in hygiene, diet and remineralizing therapy. The demineralization process can take weeks, months or years before producing a cavitation or even never provoke it.