Clinical Photograph Assessment Shows High Accuracy in Caries Detection: Study Finds

The key findings were as follows:

• The pooled sensitivity and specificity for visual assessment of clinical photographs in detecting enamel caries were 0.74 and 0.95, respectively, with a diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of 52.94 and an AUC of 0.813.
• For dentine caries, the pooled sensitivity was 0.81, and specificity was 0.98, with a DOR of 142.01 and an AUC of 0.935 (partial AUC: 0.857).
• For any caries depth, the pooled sensitivity was 0.81 and specificity was 0.99, with a DOR of 245.04 and an AUC of 0.957 (partial AUC: 0.902).
• Subgroup analysis indicated that factors such as caries depth, dentition type (primary vs. permanent; p = 0.584 for dentine caries, p = 0.923 for any caries depth), imaging technology (smartphone camera vs. intraoral camera; p = 0.993), and photographer (dental professional vs. layperson; p = 0.466) did not significantly affect diagnostic performance.

"The findings showed that the visual assessment of clinical photographs shows clinically acceptable accuracy for detecting dental caries when compared with visual clinical intraoral examination. The consistently high specificity across diagnostic thresholds highlights its reliability in correctly identifying sound tooth structures," the authors concluded.

Reference:

Ku, J. C. K., Mao, K., Wang, F., Carreiro, A. D. F. P., Lam, W. Y. H., & Yu, O. Y. (2025). Accuracy of clinical photography for the detection of dental caries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Dentistry, 157, 105737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdent.2025.105737