title: Correlation between perceived experience of caries disease and recorded caries activity among adult patients at a Swedish Public Dental Clinic: A longitudinal study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare patients' perceived experiences of caries activity with recorded longitudinal caries prevalence, consequences of caries and length of recall intervals.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire was mailed to 134 caries active (CA) and 40 caries inactive (CI) adult patients at a Swedish Public Dental Clinic. The overall response rate was 69%. The questionnaire included items regarding perceived caries activity, general health, dietary and oral hygiene habits, level of education and socioeconomic status. Questionnaire responses were studied for their association to clinical data extracted from patient dental records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a correlation between patient-perceived and documented caries activity for all respondents (rho = 0.65; p < 0.001). CA patients had significantly more perceived caries activity (p < 0.001), decayed teeth (p < 0.001), root fillings (p = 0.001) and extractions (p < 0.001) than CI patients. The mean recall interval was 1.5 years for CA and 2.1 years for CI (p < 0.001). In multiple logistic regression analysis, CA patients were at increased risk for xerostomia (OR = 22.66, p = 0.003), sleep disturbances (OR = 4.36, p = 0.04) and more frequent use of daily extra fluoride (OR = 3.58, p = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patient-perceived experience of caries correlated well with recorded caries activity in this group of middle-aged Swedish adults. Individuals with active caries were aware of their disease and made more frequent attempts to reduce caries activity by use of daily extra fluoride. Individual risk-based recall intervals did not seem to eliminate consequences of disease activity such as root fillings and extractions during the follow-up period.
authors: Centre for Clinical Research, Uppsala University, Västmanland County Hospital , Västerås , Sweden.
authors: Håkan
authors: H
authors: Flink
authors: Ake
authors: A
authors: Tegelberg
authors: Judy
authors: J
authors: Arnetz
authors: Dowen
authors: D
authors: Birkhed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D003740:Dental Clinics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017150:Public Sector; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology