title: Effectiveness of teaching International Caries Detection and Assessment System II and its e-learning program to freshman dental students on occlusal caries detection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the feasibility of teaching International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) II and its e-learning program as tools for occlusal caries detection to freshmen dental students in comparison to dental graduates with 2 years of experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-four freshmen and 32 dental graduates examined occlusal surfaces of molars/premolars (n = 72) after a lecture and a hands-on workshop. The same procedure was repeated after 1 month following the training with ICDAS II e-learning program. Validation of ICDAS II codes was done histologically. Intra- and inter-examiner reproducibility of ICDAS II severity scores were assessed before and after e-learning using (Fleiss's kappa).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The kappa values showed inter-examiner reproducibility ranged from 0.53 (ICDAS II code cut off ≥ 1) to 0.70 (ICDAS II code cut off ≥ 3) by undergraduates and 0.69 (ICDAS II code cut off ≥ 1) to 0.95 (ICDAS II code cut off ≥ 3) by graduates. The inter-examiner reproducibility ranged from 0.64 (ICDAS II code cut off ≥ 1) to 0.89 (ICDAS II code cut off ≥ 3). No statistically significant difference was found between both groups in intra-examiner agreements for assessing ICDAS II codes. A high statistically significant difference (P ≤ 0.01) in correct identification of codes 1, 2, and 4 from before to after e-learning were observed in both groups. The bias indices for the undergraduate group were higher than those of the graduate group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early exposure of students to ICDAS II is a valuable method of teaching caries detection and its e-learning program significantly improves their caries diagnostic skills.
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Specialist Dental Practice, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE.|Department of Operative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Suez Canal University, Ismalia, Egypt.
authors.forename: Hatem M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: El-Damanhoury
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Specialist Dental Practice, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE.
authors.forename: Kausar Sadia
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Fakhruddin
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Specialist Dental Practice, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE.
authors.forename: Manal A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Awad
keywords: Dental caries; International Caries Detection and Assessment System II; e-learning; teaching methods