Development of a breath test for caries detection - a pilot study.

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Caries is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide and the most reliable, but least favorable predictor of future cancer is still the disease progression. However, it would be desirable to develop a diagnostic tool that would be effective before the emergence of the first carious lesions requiring therapy.The aim of this clinical pilot study within the framework of the DFG Nachwuchsakademie is the development of a breath test for caries detection. Based on the data obtained in this pilot study, an instrument for early detection and risk stratification will be developed in the future.In published preliminary work on gas chromatography with coupled mass spectroscopy, specific patterns of volatile organic compounds for pathogenic microorganisms were detected and a workflow for the clinical sampling was established.The planned project aims to correlate breath samples of 25 diseased patients with those from 25 caries-free subjects and to identify specific patterns in caries patients using a deep-learning approach. By means of cross-validation, sensitivity and specificity of the breath test are determined and the learning process is optimized.We assume that it is suitable for the risk stratification and early detection of carious lesions. In this case, a simple, low-cost and risk-free point-of-care diagnostic will be developed in follow-up projects, which, especially in children, would mean that many X-rays could be avoided with and individualized prophylaxis could be introduced.