Is it safe and appropriate to conduct an oral assessment without using a sharp explorer?
Using a sharp explorer to assess for tooth decay has not been shown to be an effective method for accurately detecting occlusal caries. A systematic review of methods used to identify tooth decay found that the number of false positives using a dental explorer to detect occlusal caries varied widely, resulting in poor sensitivity rates. In addition, noncavitated incipient lesions may remineralize if the surface layer covering the demineralized area or lesion remains intact. The use of a sharp explorer can disrupt the surface layer and prevent remineralization.
