Intrabony periodontal defects measurement

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This review of the accuracy of clinical and radiographic measurements of infrabony periodontal defects inclded 10 studies reporting on 17 comparisons. the findings suggest that clinical and radiographic measurements of the bone level underestimate the true bone loss by an average of 1mm but the evidence is only of low to moderate certainty.

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Early enamel caries: Detection and diagnosis

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This comparative analysis of 5 Cochrane caries diagnostic test accuracy studies provides summary estimates for most currently available technologies. However the certainty of the evidence is considered low and it is difficult to predict real world performance.

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Proximal caries diagnostic measures

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This review of diagnostic accuracy and reliability of commonly used caries detection methods for proximal caries included 36 studies the majority (31) being conducted in-vitro. A limited number of studies were available to assess most of the diagnostic tests and how the findings from in-vitro studies translates to the the clinical situation needs to be considered cautiously.

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Caries detection using visual or visual-tactile examination

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This diagnostic test accuracy review of visual classification systems for the detection and diagnosis of non-cavitated coronal dental caries in children or adults included 67 studies. The findings suggest that these classificationssystems have resonable performance but the certainty of the evidence is low.

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Caries detection methods: How accurate are they?

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This review of the accuracy of different methods for detecting carious lesions in primary and permanent teeth compares visual inspection, radiographs and fluorescence-based detection. 240 studies were included and the findings suggest that visual inspection was adequate for most patients.

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Light-based tests for early caries detection

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This Cochrane review aimed to estimate the diagnostic test accuracy of different illumination tests for the detection and diagnosis of enamel caries in children or adults. 24 datasets from 23 studies were included with optical coherence tomography showing the most potential but more research is needed.

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Fluorescence devices for caries detection

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This Cochrane diagnostic test accuracy review of fluorescence-based devices for the detection and diagnosis of enamel caries included 131 studies with 114 datasets from 79 studies contributing to the meta-analyses.

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Root caries: detection and diagnosis

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This Cochrane review assessing the diagnostic test accuracy of index tests for the detection and diagnosis of root caries in adults included 4 studies and 4997 root surfaces. The studies were all at high risk of bias meaning the available evidence is of very low certainty

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Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 screening: Could it accidentally cause local lockdowns?

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Mark-Steven Howe takes a look coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 screening and the implications of false positive tests in this blog

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COVID-19 Dental Elf blogs

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On this page we have compiled all our dental blogs related to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2) or COVID-19 outbreak.

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