Partial recording in caries incremental studies in English schoolchildren

Abstract

ABSTRACT A partial recording system, suitable for use in caries incremental studies, was developed from first principles using data from 330 11‐ to 14‐year‐old English schoolchildren. This system was shown to be rapid, accurate and highly efficient when the results were compared with full‐mouth statistics. Comparisons were also made with five published caries partial recording methods, using 2‐ and 3‐year incremental data from a recent clinical trial. The results have been calculated both excluding and including precavitation lesions, as well as for three separate surface types (fissure, free smooth surface and approximal). Three methods of expressing “relative efficiency” are compared. The need for partial recording systems to be maximally efficient is discussed. The results confirm that many partial recording techniques are accurate, efficient and capable of considerably reducing examination time.