ReviewJournal of clinical and experimental dentistry2026
Comparison of Intra-Examiner Agreement in the In Vivo Diagnosis of Carious Lesions With and Without Loupes Using the ICDAS II System.
Review in Journal of clinical and experimental dentistry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Accurate early caries detection remains a major challenge in minimally invasive dentistry. While visual inspection remains the clinical gold standard, magnification loupes are increasingly used in dental practice. However, their diagnostic reliability under real clinical conditions remains unclear. Objective: To evaluate intra-examiner agreement in the diagnosis of occlusal carious lesions using the ICDAS II system with and without 3.5x magnification loupes. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional in vivo study was conducted on 143 teeth (572 measurements) from 15 patients. Each occlusal surface was examined twice with and twice without loupes, randomized by sequence and separated by at least seven days. The examiner was calibrated and blinded to prior results. Weighted Cohen's Kappa coefficients, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated for each lesion type. Results: Concordance between methods was moderate (weighted Kappa = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.43-0.69). Intra-examiner reproducibility was high for both loupes (Kappa = 0.88) and unaided inspection (Kappa = 0.81). Sensitivity and specificity were highest for incipient and severe lesions, while low prevalence limited estimates for moderate lesions. Overall diagnostic accuracy for the magnified method was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.80-0.89). Conclusions: Magnification loupes provide comparable diagnostic accuracy to unaided visual inspection, with improved sensitivity for early lesions. Their systematic use may enhance diagnostic consistency and clinical training in preventive and minimally invasive dentistry.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.