British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD) diagnostic criteria for caries prevalence surveys-1996/97.

This paper outlines the current (1996/97) version of the diagnostic criteria relating to dental caries employed in the BASCD coordinated NHS Dental Epidemiology Programme. Some of the details as to how these criteria have evolved over the past 13 years. since the original guidelines publication (Palmer et al., 1984), can be found in a previous publication (Pitts, 1993) and in an earlier paper in this supplement (Pitts and Evans, 1997).