Intra-oral scanners show promise for caries detection

Dental Tribune International

Fri. 6. February 2026

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MELBOURNE, Australia: Intra-oral scanners are emerging as efficient, scalable tools for detecting dental caries in children, offering a promising alternative to visual examination. The integration of fluorescence technology has further enhanced their diagnostic capabilities, though most evidence to date comes from adult populations. A recent study has therefore evaluated the diagnostic agreement between visual examination and assessments based on intra-oral scans—with and without fluorescence data—for caries detection in primary teeth. The findings demonstrated high agreement with visual inspection and value of fluorescence in detecting early-stage lesions.

The study assessed 216 5-year-old children recruited from the Melbourne Infant Study: BCG for Allergy and Infection Reduction. Based on the visual examination data, 38% of the children showed signs of caries, while 18% presented with enamel defects. Caries detection based on assessment of 3D models generated from intra-oral scanning with the TRIOS 4 scanner (3Shape) demonstrated similar diagnostic likelihood to visual examination across initial, moderate and extensive disease thresholds. When fluorescence data was added to the models, the likelihood of detecting caries increased by just under a third at the initial disease threshold and remained comparable to visual examination at moderate and extensive thresholds.

The authors reported high agreement and reliability between the visual and digital assessments, suggesting that intra-oral scanning technology may complement existing diagnostic tools. They noted that the ability of scanners to rapidly capture thousands of images and generate detailed 3D models could support more comprehensive assessments, particularly for children who tolerate only short dental appointments.

The study also pointed to potential benefits for communication with parents, enabling clearer visualisation of clinical findings and treatment planning. In addition, such technology could offer advantages in low-resource or remote settings where access to dental services is limited. However, the authors emphasised that larger studies are required to determine how the technology can be routinely integrated into clinical practice.

The research team is also involved in the Infant2Child study, a long-term initiative focused on improving oral health during the first 2,000 days of life. This work aims to support early prevention strategies and provide parents with practical, evidence-based guidance to reduce caries risk before established disease patterns emerge.

Studies in adult populations have reported high agreement between visual examination and assessments based on intra-oral scans, supporting their potential role in clinical evaluation and documentation. More recent work has further examined how adjunct technologies, including fluorescence and artificial intelligence-based analysis, may enhance the identification of early enamel changes and improve consistency across examiners. Together, these findings point to a growing body of evidence supporting the use of intra-oral imaging for caries detection across age groups.

The study, titled “Dental caries detection in children using intraoral scanners featuring fluorescence: Diagnostic agreement study”, was published online on 8 December 2025 in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance.