title: Agreement in the diagnosis of dental fluorosis in central incisors performed by a standardized photographic method and clinical examination.
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess agreement in the diagnosis of dental fluorosis performed by a standardized digital photographic method and a clinical examination (gold standard). 49 children (aged 7-9 years) were clinically evaluated by a trained examiner for the assessment of dental fluorosis. Central incisors were evaluated for the presence or absence of dental fluorosis and were photographed with a digital camera. Photographs were presented to three pediatric dentists, who examined the images. Data were analyzed using Cohen's kappa and validity values. Agreement in the diagnosis performed by the photographic method and clinical examination was good (0.67) and accuracy was 83.7%. The prevalence of dental fluorosis was reported to be higher in the clinical examination (49%) compared with the photographic method (36.7%). The photographic method presented higher specificity (96%) than sensitivity (70.8%), a positive predictive value (PPV) of 94.4% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 77.4%. The diagnosis of dental fluorosis performed using the photographic method presented high specificity and PPV, which indicates that the method is reproducible and reliable for recording dental fluorosis.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Odontopediatria e Ortodontia, Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil. carolcm10@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Carolina Castro
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Loliza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chalub
authors.forename: Ynara Bosco
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Lima-Arsati
authors.forename: Isabela Almeida
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Pordeus
authors.forename: Saul Martins
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Paiva
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D009050:Fluorosis, Dental / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor; D008297:Male; D023861:Photography, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity