Screening Value And Cost-Effectiveness Of Cariostat And Cariogram

To analyze the screening value and cost-effectiveness of Cariostat and Cariogram in caries risk assessment among preschool children, providing a basis for the feasibility in community settings. A total of 156 children aged 3-4 years from two randomly selected kindergartens underwent oral examinations and questionnaire surveys. Caries risk assessments were conducted using Cariostat and Cariogram. After one year observation, oral examinations were performed to determine the incidence of new caries. The sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of Cariostat and Cariogram were evaluated, and the cost-effectiveness ratio was calculated. Among the 147 children who completed the one-year follow-up, the baseline mean age was 4.02 ± 0.03 years, with 50.34% being male. The incidence of new caries after one year was 50.34%, with an average increase in dmft of 1.41 ± 0.21. The sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of Cariostat in identifying children at moderate to high caries risk were 73.17%, 44.62%, and 0.66, respectively. For Cariogram, these values were 90.24%, 43.08%, and 0.71, respectively. The cost per correctly identified moderate or high caries risk in preschool children was ¥82.68 for Cariostat and ¥14.41 for simplified Cariogram. Cariogram shows high sensitivity in screening for caries risk among preschool children, while Cariostat demonstrates moderate sensitivity, with both tools having relatively low specificity.Within the current parameter ranges, Cariogram is significantly more cost-effective than Cariostat in screening moderate and high caries risk children.