title: Validity of caries-detection methods under epidemiological setting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the validity of the visual exam and adjunct diagnostic technologies for posterior permanent teeth under epidemiological conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A probabilistic sample of 165 12-year-old schoolchildren from Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil, was examined by visual exam (VI1), visual exam + artificial lighting (VI2), bitewing (BW), fiber optic transillumination (FOTI), DIAGNOdent and the associations among them. The D1+D3 and D3 diagnostics criteria, under epidemiological conditions, were adopted. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were calculated to determine the validity of the exams.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most accurate diagnostic method was VI2+BW exam for all dental surfaces under both diagnostic criteria. It was concluded that the BW was the best adjunct diagnostic technology on epidemiological dental caries surveys, increasing the validity of the dental exams.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Dentistry, Piracicaba Dental School - University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Av. Limeira 901, P.O. Box 52, CEP 13414-903, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renato Pereira
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: Andréa Videira
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Assaf
authors.forename: Stela Márcia
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Fábio Luiz
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Mialhe
authors.forename: Gláucia Maria Bovi
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Ambrosano
authors.forename: Marcelo de Castro
authors.initials: Mde C
authors.lastname: Meneghim
authors.forename: Antonio Carlos
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D011336:Probability