Question · asked by 1 review
Electrical conductance devices (electronic caries monitor (ECM) and/or CarieScan Pro), used as an adjunct to clinical oral examination vs Reference standard (histology, excavation, or enhanced visual examination): Sensitivity for detection of enamel caries
- Population
- Children, adolescents, or adults presenting asymptomatically or suspected of early enamel caries (in vivo), or extracted teeth of children/adults (in vitro); target condition = non-cavitated coronal caries at the enamel threshold on occlusal surfaces. Studies intentionally including caries into dentine or frank cavitations were excluded.
- Intervention
- Electrical conductance devices (electronic caries monitor (ECM) and/or CarieScan Pro), used as an adjunct to clinical oral examination
- Comparison
- Reference standard (histology, excavation, or enhanced visual examination)
- Outcome
- Sensitivity for detection of enamel caries
What each review found
Current versions only| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Electrical conductance devices (electronic caries monitor (ECM) and/or CarieScan Pro), used as an adjunct to clinical oral examination vs Reference standard: histology or enhanced visual examination (with or without radiographs) Sensitivity (test accuracy for detecting enamel caries) · Children, adolescents, or adults presenting asymptomatically or suspected of early enamel caries (in vivo), or… · Up to 3 months between index test and reference standard (in vivo studies) Electrical conductance for the detection of dental caries (2021) · Cochrane All outcomes | SoF findings (HSROC; no summary operating point reported): 'ECM: sensitivity from 0.61 to 0.98 ... CarieScan Pro: sensitivity from 0.55 to 0.91'. Across all 7 studies (8 datasets), covering 719 tooth surfaces or sites… | 7 studies | Very low |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical conductance for the detection of dental caries 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes | 2019-04 | Not listed | Not assessed |
How reviews are matched to this question
Reviews word the same question differently. Four decision models (TypeSafe's Jev, Liquid AI's d1-ultra, SubQ Snap and Baseten's Elephant) judged each wording of the population, intervention, comparator and outcome against the others; two wordings count as the same when at least three of them agree and none clearly disagrees, and findings count as this question only when all four elements match. Timing, setting and subgroup never split a question: they are shown on each finding.