Management of a clinical case of caries lesions by undergraduate dentistry students.

Background: Dental caries remains the most prevalent chronic disease worldwide. Hence the importance of detecting and evaluating caries and combining this with additional diagnostic methods to ensure the best treatment. The main objective was to study what is the sensitivity and specificity for detecting initial and cavitated caries lesions by students in third, fourth and fifth year of the Degree in Dentistry at the University of Barcelona, analysing if there is any difference between the diagnoses and treatments among the different years and each student's clinical experience. It was also determined if they apply the techniques based on the concepts of minimal intervention.

Material and methods: An observational cross-sectional study using an online survey was performed, based on a real clinical case, aimed at the students in third, fourth and fifth year of the Degree in Dentistry at the University of Barcelona.

Results: Most of the respondents (72.13%) observed demineralization or cavities caused by caries in the clinical image and all in the radiographic image (100%). Meanwhile, they showed a more conservative attitude in the treatment of occlusal face, where 23.08% in 4.6 and 46.25% in 4.7 indicate filling of pits and fissures. On the other hand, on the proximal faces, they directly opted for a class II filling (95% in 4.5 distal, 94% in 4.6 mesial and 84% in 4.6 distal). Eighty-five percent of the students considered applying techniques based on the concepts of minimal intervention.

Conclusions: The students use similar criteria when diagnosing and treating possible caries lesions regardless of academic year or clinical experience. The personal evaluation of the application of the concepts of minimal intervention does not correlate with the clinical attitude to those cases. Key words:Dental caries, caries diagnosis, caries management, questionnaire.