Historical evolution of primary dentition caries pattern definitions.

A variety of dental caries patterns encompassing differing teeth have been proposed, and their use may have utility in Early Childhood Caries (ECC) investigations by minimizing case misclassification. Recent reports have proposed multiple pattern schemes. The purpose of this paper was to review the historical evolution of ECC patterns to assist the clinician and researcher in understanding the strengths and limitations of contemporary caries pattern definition(s).