This Cochrane review update was to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of index tests for the detection of oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders, in people presenting with clinically evident suspicious and innocuous lesions.
This review of the use and diagnostic accuracy of saliva tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 included 16 studies. THe findings suggests good diagnostic accuracy but furteher research is needed to determine confounding factors such as method and time of sample collection, transport medium, storage etc. prior to population testing.
This diagnostic test accuracy review of visual classification systems for the detection and diagnosis of non-cavitated coronal dental caries in children or adults included 67 studies. The findings suggest that these classificationssystems have resonable performance but the certainty of the evidence is low.
Manas Dave looks at a review of the diagnostic accuracy of blood and salivary microRNAs (miRNAs) in discriminating oral squamous cell carcinoma. The review included 20 cross-sectional studies and suggested moderate diagnostic accuracy and higlights a potential are for larger scale studies.
This review of the accuracy of different methods for detecting carious lesions in primary and permanent teeth compares visual inspection, radiographs and fluorescence-based detection. 240 studies were included and the findings suggest that visual inspection was adequate for most patients.
This review of the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound in differentiating periapical lesions of endodontic origin in comparison with histopathology included 12 studies. While the findings suggest good levels of sensitifity and specificity for diagnosing periapical cysts and granulomasthere are concerns regarding the quality of the evidence.
This review of the use of as a sample for the detection of SARS-COV-2 included 22 studies ( 2 case reports, 17 case series and 3 mass screenings) while SARS-CoV-2 is detected in saliva additional high quality studies are needed to determine efficacy.
This Cochrane review of the diagnostic accuracy of different electrical conductance devices for the detection and diagnosis of non-cavitated coronal dental caries included 7 studies. The quality of the studies mean we are very uncertain of how electrical conductance devices are in detecting and diagnosing early tooth decay.
This Cochrane review of the diagnostic accuracy of different dental imaging methods for early enamel lesions included 104 datasets from 77 studies. Low-certainty evidence suggests that imaging for the detection or diagnosis of early tooth decay may result in a relatively high proportion of false-negative results.
This Cochrane review aimed to estimate the diagnostic test accuracy of different illumination tests for the detection and diagnosis of enamel caries in children or adults. 24 datasets from 23 studies were included with optical coherence tomography showing the most potential but more research is needed.