The principles which the ICCMSTM is

The principles which the ICCMSTM is using are depicted in a cyclic format in Figure 3 and include four key elements. The First Element involves collecting a history from patients on their chief medical and dental complaints, past dental and medical history, history of present complaints, symptoms and preference for outcomes and then assesses the patient level risk factors. This step is integrated with the Second Element, the Caries Classification step, that starts with conducting an assessment of plaque on the teeth, followed by the clinical visual examination of the teeth, which focuses on determining the caries categories (sound, initial, moderate, extensive) on each tooth and tooth surface, assesses the activity state of each lesion, radiographic analysis (when available), and evaluates the caries experience (including number of restorations, state of previous restorative work, teeth extracted due to caries reasons, and dental sepsis), as well as other intraoral risk factors. The data collected from the interview and clinical examination are analyzed and synthesized in the Third Element, decision making, to synthesize and diagnose the risk of getting new lesions in the future and to diagnose each lesion in terms of whether or not they are active and if they are of initial, moderate or extensive severity.