[Modified CAMBRA questionnaire as a method for population-based caries risk screening without exploratory methods: a cross-sectional observational pilot study]

OBJECTIVE

Caries Management by Risk Assessment (CAMBRA) is a questionnaire used to diagnose the patient's overall caries risk. This study aimed to present a self-assessment questionnaire based on CAMBRA which, unlike the original, is completed by parents/caregivers, without the need for a dental examination, allowing a presumptive diagnosis to be established in children under seven years of age excluded from the oral health programme of the National Health System to establish individualised recommendations for caries risk and their early inclusion in preventive programmes of the Madrid Health Service (Madrid, Spain).

METHODS

A cross-sectional observational study was carried out following STROBE guidelines using for the first time a self-assessment questionnaire based on CAMBRA in a population of children aged from three to six years from a nursery school in Madrid (Spain). The results were analysed using descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact statistic was used to study the relationship between qualitative variables.

RESULTS

The questionnaire was answered by the parents of 120 children (response rate=53.1%), of whom 40.8% presented a low a priori caries risk, 42.5% a moderate risk and 16.7% a high caries risk.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study allow the identification of patients at risk of presenting and/or developing caries. However, future studies should evaluate its sensitivity and specificity by comparing it with a confirmatory diagnosis after a dental examination. Nevertheless, the modified CAMBRA questionnaire could be a useful tool for population screening, facilitating the access of the population at risk of caries and risk of exclusion to preventive and community plans.

Dentinal sensitivity: concept and methodology for its objective evaluation

Dentinal sensitivity is a clinical condition of some importance, particularly in periodontal patients. Symptoms appear on applying a triggering stimulus to the exposed dentine - the particularity being that the pain is similar to that of other dental disorders of different etiology and treatment. Hence the importance of a correct differential diagnosis. The main problem not only in clinical practice when treating the disorder, but also in designing studies for the objective evaluation of dentinal sensitivity, is the difficulty of standardizing, evaluating and interpreting the clinical condition in its different degrees. Thus, consensus in designing and evaluating studies of dentinal sensitivity would facilitate our understanding of its etiology, and the assessment of possible treatments. Such studies may center their methodology on individual patient response or on the nature of the triggering stimulus. The present study provides an updated and global view of the disorder, and reviews the basic protocol for the objective assessment of dentinal sensitivity.