• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.254-262
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• 2003

Dental caries has a multifactorial aetiology in which there is an interplay of three principal factors: the host(saliva and teeth), the microflora(dental plaque) and the substrate(diet), and a fourth factor time. There is no single test that takes into consideration all these factors and can accurately predict an individual's susceptibility to dental caries. The risk of dental caries can be evaluated by analysing and integrating several causative factors. The objective of the study was to clarify the relationship between caries activity and the status of caries of primary teeth and the relationship between the quantity of S. mutans in the dental plaque and the status of dental caries. Forty nine children ages 5 were examined with caries indices, Dentocult-SM and quantity of S. mutans. The results were as follows: All the survey results were similar with national means of 5-6 years Korean preschool children. The deft index of subjects was 5.46 and defs index was 9.81. There was 8.6% of negative, 10.9% of mild, 28.1% of moderate and 52.3% of active results at screening strip test. 8.6% was negative, 17.2% was mild, 33.6% was moderate and 40.6% was active in site strip test. The Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.775, and overall kappa index was 0.496 between screening strip test and site strip test. There also was a high correlation between caries incidence, Dentocult-SM test, and quantity of S. mutans. Dentocult-SM test as a caries activity test is a reliable method for measuring the status of dental caries in primary teeth.