The use of professionally applied topical fluorides may not be justified for people with low dental caries risk, especially
when they are exposed to fluorides from other sources such as water, milk, or salt fluoridation or from the regular use of fluoridated toothpaste. To achieve high cost-effectiveness, these topical fluoride agents should be used in people with moderate to high caries risk and should be applied to specific high-caries risk tooth sites. This will require the concurrent use of a highly sensitive and specific caries risk assessment system or tool for identification of the high-risk population. However, no single system has been shown to be valid and reliable (ADA Council on Scientific Affairs, 2006). Further research and development
of a valid caries risk assessment method that is also simple and inexpensive to carry out would greatly benefit the targeted use of professionally applied topical fluorides.