Caries Risk Assessment Instrument for Young Adults

描述（由申请人提供）：尽管在减少龋齿患病率方面取得了显著进展，但龋齿仍然是最普遍的牙科疾病。最新的全国调查NHANES III的结果表明，到17岁时，近78%的美国居民患有龋齿。在18岁及以上的人中，这一数字增加到85%左右，此外，75岁以上的人中有50%患有至少一颗牙齿的根面龋病。这些数据还表明，18-25岁的年轻人平均有近14颗蛀牙、缺牙或补牙，而36-45岁的人这一数字增加到41颗。此外，这些数字不受种族、收入水平或教育水平的明显影响。虽然后一项关于龋齿流行率的数字略低于以前调查中观察到的数字，但很明显，需要采取更有效的措施来预防和控制这一疾病。确定有患龋齿重大风险的年轻人将允许实施专业和家庭使用的措施来预防和控制龋齿。因此，本研究的总体目标是为年轻人开发一种准确确定龋齿风险的龋齿风险评估工具。该项目的具体目标是：(1)根据现有知识和团队先前的经验开发一种调查工具，以识别具有重大医疗风险的人员；(2)利用两种已知能够检测龋齿的新技术（定量光荧光和ICDAS）对18-25岁的年轻人进行临床龋齿检查，收集初步数据以验证龋齿风险评估工具的有效性；在6个月的测试期内增加；(3)利用龋病数据对龋病风险评估工具的各个组成部分进行评估，以确定具有显著龋病风险的人的价值。未来将进行大规模调查，以验证该仪器的优点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In spite of the remarkable progress that has been made in the reduction of the prevalence of dental caries it continues to be the most prevalent dental disease. The results of the most recent national survey, NHANES III, indicated that by age 17 nearly 78% of U.S. residents are afflicted with dental caries. This number increase to about 85% in persons 18 years of age and older and, in addition, 50% of persons beyond 75 years of age have root surface caries involving at least one tooth. These data also indicate that young adults 18-25 years of age had an average of nearly 14 decayed, missing or filled tooth surface and that this number increases to 41 in persons 36-45 years of age. Further these numbers are not appreciably influenced by race, income level, or level of education. Although these latter numbers for caries prevalence are somewhat less than was observed in prior surveys it is quite apparent that more effective measures for the prevention and control of this disease are needed. The identification of young adults at significant risk for dental caries would permit the implementation of professional and home-use measures for the prevention and control of dental caries. Thus, the overall goal of this investigation is to develop a caries risk assessment instrument for young adults that accurately determine caries risk. The Specific Aims of this project are: (1) develop a survey instrument based upon existing knowledge and the prior experience of the team in identifying persons with significant medical risks; (2) collect preliminary data to validate the caries risk assessment instrument by conducting clinical caries examinations in young adults 18-25 years of age using two new technologies (Quantitative Light Fluorescence and ICDAS) known to be capable of detecting caries; increments within a 6- month test period; and (3) use the caries data to evaluate each component of the caries risk assessment instrument for their value in identifying persons with significant caries risk. Future large-scale investigations will be undertaken to validate the merits of the instrument.