Park Mariam, Patel Foram, Santos Maria Jacinta, Tikhonova Svetlana, Athanasakos Alexia, Jessani Abbas
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Department of Dentistry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
BMC Oral Health. 2025 Mar 2;25(1):330. doi: 10.1186/s12903-025-05637-8.
Caries Risk Assessment (CRA) tools can be utilised to assess caries risk levels within underserved individuals to provide risk-based caries management. With no previous review mapping the evidence of CRA tools in underserved populations, a scoping review was conducted to provide a comprehensive view of the current literature and the utilisation of CRA tools in underserved populations. The main objectives of this review are as follows: (1) to comprehensively review CRA tools utilised, and (2) to highlight the important findings indicating the oral health status of underserved population subgroups.
A systematic search was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Dissertations & Theses Global (ProQuest). All relevant English-language papers published between January 2004 to June 2024 were identified. Retrieved references were imported and underwent 2-stage screening. The type of CRA tool was extracted as the primary outcome and oral health status of underserved subgroups were extracted as the secondary outcome.
A total of 26 studies and nine different CRA tools were identified. Included studies examined caries risk in low-income families, people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, refugees, veterans, and rural communities. Most studies indicated moderate to high caries risk and significant unmet oral health needs in underserved populations.
The underserved populations experience elevated caries risk and poor oral health status that require the attention of policymakers and practitioners. Significant heterogeneity across the utilised CRA tools was identified. Future research focusing on developing a standardised and appropriately validated CRA tool that can be utilised is necessary.
龋病风险评估（CRA）工具可用于评估服务不足人群的龋病风险水平，以提供基于风险的龋病管理。由于此前没有综述梳理服务不足人群中CRA工具的证据，因此进行了一项范围综述，以全面了解当前文献以及CRA工具在服务不足人群中的应用情况。本综述的主要目的如下：（1）全面回顾所使用的CRA工具；（2）突出显示表明服务不足人群亚组口腔健康状况的重要发现。
使用MEDLINE、EMBASE、Scopus、谷歌学术和全球学位论文数据库（ProQuest）进行系统检索。确定了2004年1月至2024年6月期间发表的所有相关英文论文。将检索到的参考文献导入并进行两阶段筛选。提取CRA工具的类型作为主要结果，提取服务不足亚组的口腔健康状况作为次要结果。
共确定了26项研究和9种不同的CRA工具。纳入的研究调查了低收入家庭、残疾人、原住民、难民、退伍军人和农村社区的龋病风险。大多数研究表明，服务不足人群的龋病风险为中度至高度，口腔健康需求未得到满足的情况严重。
服务不足人群的龋病风险较高，口腔健康状况较差，这需要政策制定者和从业者予以关注。已确定所使用的CRA工具存在显著异质性。有必要开展未来研究，重点开发一种可使用的标准化且经过适当验证的CRA工具。
