Clinician's ability to identify caries risk subjects.

The clinician's ability to identify caries risk children without saliva tests was studied in five health care centers. 77 examiners predicted, after the annual check-up and treatment, whether, during the following 12 months, the child would develop new dentinal caries lesions to be filled. 7917 children aged 5-16 yr were included. Only information routinely available at clinical examinations was used. In general, the overall sensitivity was 44% and specificity 90%. Some clinicians were able to identify the caries risk children with high sensitivity and specificity figures.