Clinical examination alone detects moresecondary caries on crowned teeth than radiograph alone

Summary Subjects The subjects were 100 patients with fixed prostheses 0689 who exhibited at least 1 secondary caries lesion. These subjects provided 820 teeth with crowns (365 single crowns, 455 fixed partial denture abutments) and 512 teeth with no restorations for the analyses. Exposure Both interproximal surfaces of each crowned and unrestored 0689 tooth were evaluated clinically and by radiographs for the presence of caries. The clinical examination included use of an explorer. Main outcome measure Presence of caries (clinical levels: initial caries, caries0689 suspicion, early caries, deep caries; radiographic levels: radiolucency limited to outer half of enamel, extending into inner half, reaching outer half of dentin, into inner half of dentin). Main results Clinical examination detected more caries lesions0689 (11.2%) on interproximal surfaces of crowned teeth than did radiographic examination (8.3%), a difference that was statistically significant at P . Conversely, radiographs detected slightly more lesions on interproximal surfaces of nonrestored teeth (4.1%) than did clinical examination (3.3%). This difference was also statistically significant ( P ).