Dental students’ consistency in applying the ICDAS system within paediatric dentistry

Aims: To examine dental student’s three-month consistency in utilising the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) criteria after baseline training.

Materials and Methods: All clinical dental students as part of their education in Paediatric Dentistry at Aberdeen Dental School (n=56) received baseline training by two ‘gold-standard’ examiners and were advised to complete the 90-min ICDAS e-learning programme. Study One: One month later, the occlusal surface of 40 extracted primary- and permanent molar teeth was examined and assigned both a caries- (0–6 scale) and restorative code (0–9 scale). Study Two: The same teeth were examined three months later. Kappa statistics were used to determine inter- and intra-examiner reliability at baseline and after three months (IBM® SPSS® Statistics 19). Results:In total, 31 students (BDS2:n=9; BDS3:n=8; BDS4:n=14) completed both examinations. The inter-examiner reliability Kappa scores for restoration codes for Study One and Study Two were: BDS2: 0.47 and 0.38; BDS3: 0.61and 0.52 and BDS4: 0.56 and 0.52. For caries scores for the two studies as follows: BDS2: 0.31 and 0.20; BDS3: 0.45 and 0.32 and BDS4: 0.35 and 0.34. The intraexaminer reliability for restoration codes range was as follows: BDS2: 0.20–0.55;BDS3: 0.34–0.72 and BDS4: 0.28–0.80. The intra-examiner reliability for caries codes range was as follows: BDS2: 0.35–0.62; BDS3: 0.22–0.53 and BDS4: 0.22–0.65.

Conclusions: The consistency of ICDAS codes varied between students and also,between year groups. In general, consistency was greater for restoration codes. Further educational opportunities are required prior to implementation theICDAS system.