Association between two visual criteria in assessing non-cavitated caries lesion activity on occlusal surfaces of permanent molars

This study aimed to evaluate the association between two visual criteria in assessing non-cavitated caries lesion activity on occlusal surfaces of permanent molars. Thirty-nine patients with at least one permanent molar with non-cavitated caries lesion on the occlusal surface were selected. Molars were assessed according to their activity status following two criteria: ICDAS-LAA and a qualitative criterion based on clinical characteristics. The results showed that the LAA criterion seems to overestimate caries activity. A weak association between both criteria in assessing caries lesion activity and low specificity for ICDAS-LAA was observed. The ICDAS-LAA criterion is not suitable to assess non-cavitated caries lesion activity on occlusal surfaces of permanent molars because it assesses the lesions to be active more frequently than the qualitative criterion. The determination of caries lesion activity is a key decision point in the treatment of caries disease. This study discusses the best option to assess the activity of non-cavitated occlusal caries lesions.