title: Caries prediction--state of the art.
abstract: This paper considers the question of whether, by using the currently available measures for assessing caries risk, one can identify with sufficient accuracy the high caries-risk susceptible individuals who need individual protection to avoid having an unacceptably high number of new cavities. In addition, the outline of a typical caries prediction study is presented with an example, Finally, the accuracy of an actual caries prediction is compared with the accuracy of predicting the onset of acute myocardial infarction in order to point out the fact that the risk of any disease is difficult to assess accurately.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hausen
mesh_terms: D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000209:etiology*; D003733:Dental Caries Susceptibility; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000209:etiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity