Abstract
The aim of this study is to examine the reliability of the modified method by sampling without paraffin wax chewing in 84 infants and young children aged 2-5 years old. The Dentocult-SM® Strip mutans score made by the modified method using the sample without paraffin-wax chewing (DSMs-M)coincided with 55.8% with the score made by the original method (DSMs-O). In case of containing a score of ±1. DSMs-M coincided with 85.3% with DSMs-O in the group under 4 years old. The coincident rates in the group over 4 years old between DSMs-M and DSMs-O were 44.0% and 78.0% respectively. The Dentobuff® Strip score made with the modified method (DBs-M) coincided with 28.6% in the group under 4 years old and 28.3% in the group over 4 years old with the score made by the original method (DBs-O). Over 95% of the DBs-O was score 3 (high). DSMs-M correlated significantly (p<.0001) with DSMs-O by means of Peason's correlation coefficient and the Speaman correlation coefficient in both age groups. Meanwhile, DBs-M did not correlate significantly with DBs-O. DSMs-M and DSMs-O correlated significantly (p<.01, p<.05) with the caries index (CSI and dmf) in the group under 4 years old. In the group over 4 years old, only DSMs-O correlated significantly (p<.05, p<.01) with the caries index (CSI and dmf). In conclusion, it was suggested that Dentocult-SM® Strip mutans made by the modified method in this study is very useful and reliable in the group under 4 years old. However, we doubt the effectiveness of Dentobuff® Strip made by the original method without specificity as a Caries activity test based on comprehensive analysis of our results.
