LAUSR

AIM To validate the Bangkok checklist (BCL) in predicting early childhood caries development in a cohort of preschool children from low and moderate socioeconomic areas and to compare its performance with two established risk assessment tools. MATERIAL AND METHODS We followed 146 preschool children, (2-5 yo) for two years. At baseline, the caries risk category was determined with three checklists: i) BCL, ii) AAPD form (CRAF), and iii) CAMBRA. Data derived from questionnaires and clinical examinations. Caries increment was recorded by counting the number of surfaces that changed from sound to decayed. We used Kendall's tau, Poisson regression models and ROC analysis to assess the predictive ability (p≤0.05). RESULTS Over 50% of the children developed new caries yearly. The BCL assigned the majority of the children (87%) into the high-risk category. The sensitivity was 88% but the specificity was low (16%). The accuracy of the BCL was similar to CRAF but inferior to the CAMBRA tool. CONCLUSIONS Bangkok checklist had a very limited performance in accurately predicting future early childhood caries in this population of Greek children. The proportion of children assessed with high caries risk was overestimated and further research in larger populations of this age group are need.