Assessment of caries risk in preschool children

The study aimed to assess the additional caries-predictive value of visible plaque, gingival bleeding, and the reported use of fluorides and candies, when combined with the information about mutans streptococci ( MS) and incipient carious lesions. The subjects were 2 years of age at the baseline examination (n = 226), and they were all given conventional prevention during the 3-year follow-up period. None of the studied single risk indicators reached an accuracy of 80% in predicting the 3-year caries increment. At best, the accuracy was 75% for the MS strip. Use of candies and incipient caries lesions had additional caries-predictive value ( multiple logistic regression analysis). The combined use of these three risk indicators resulted in an accuracy of 81%. The present results indicate that in 2-year-old children, the combination of two or three risk indicators ( MS strip, incipient caries lesions, and use of candies) might have caries-predictive power enough for clinical implications.