An evaluation of pit and fissure caries and caries experience as selection criteria in bitewing examinations for children.

One area of particular concern, on behalf of the pediatric dental patient, is the routine use of low doses of ionizing radiation in the form of bitewing radiographs at semi-annual examinations. Patients at high-risk for interproximal caries should receive bitewing examinations at the first clinical evidence of caries. The use of pit and fissure caries as a criterion for determining relative interproximal caries risk may not be reliable in fluoridated communities.