Skip to Main Content

NIH: Consensus Development Conference on Diagnosis and Management of Dental Caries Throughout Life: Background

NIH organized conference that produced consensus statements on important and controversial topics in medicine and dentistry.

NIH: CDC: Filters

Notes and Restrictions for the Use of These Filters

These filters were designed for the use of the searchers and researchers involved in the NIDCR Caries Consensus Development Conference, 2000-2001, and are designed for use with the OVID search interface for MEDLINE. They may be adapted for use with other search interfaces, but may require substantial modification to work as intended. Selected filters are presented both for the OVID version of MEDLINE and the OVID version of EMBASE, if there were substantial differences.

The caries filter is presented in two fashions: one, shown line-by-line as originally entered, and two, as lines of text intended to be highlighted, then cut and pasted into the search window. All other filters are given solely in the line-by-line format, as they were entered in the actual search process. Please note that there are platform-dependent differences when pasting into the OVID search window. On the Macintosh, a paste seems to automatically truncate at a certain point. For that reason, some filters are presented in both PC and MAC formats. With the latter, the longer filters have been broken into sections short enough to work on the Macintosh. This means you may need to enter multiple search statements and combine them. If unsure about this, please refer to the line-by-line example for clarification.

The filters listed here are only for the OVID version of MEDLINE. For selected topics, an OVID EMBASE version is also given. Please note that for all topics, the filters were developed specifically for use in a dental or oral health context and may not be appropriate for other use.

During this project, it was discovered that the standard MeSH terms for dentition are not applied in a reliable manner and that it was routinely more effective to use age limits to approach the concept of dentition. For this purpose, age limits were applied either in place of or in addition to dentition terms and filters. Any filters for primary, mixed, or permanent dentition should keep this in mind.

Filters used in this project which were not developed as a part of the project include the standardized filters developed by the librarians at the Miner Library of the University of Rochester. These are available at the following web site:

Every effort was made to use these exactly as listed on that site for purposes of standardization, however there were occasional small additions made to them at the request of the researchers in this project.

Last but not least, it should be obvious that a project of this magnitude could not be undertaken in a vaccum, and that these searches and hedge could not have been developed solely by the searcher. I would like to recognize the expert contributions of the various research team members. In particular, I would like to thank Jill Livingston of the University of Connecticut for her assistance with the microorganism searches, and also the Reference librarians of the Taubman Medical Library at the University of Michigan for their expertise and willingness to consult and review the search strategies. Thanks is also due to Katy Nesbit, Patricia Gallagher, and the other members of the EBM special interest listserv.


List of All Available Filters


Caries Filter

Disease-Focused Version:
Line-By-Line | Cut-N-Paste

More Inclusive Version:
Line-By-Line | Cut-N-Paste | Annotated

Modifications to Caries Filter (to correct for search problems)

Enrichments to Caries Filter

1  exp Tooth demineralization/	                                        22524
2  demineralization.mp.	                                                 1607
3  caries.mp.                                                           15186
4  caires.mp.                                                               1
5  craies.mp.                                                               0
6  careis.mp.                                                               4
7  carise.mp.                                                               0
8  (teeth adj3 cavit:).mp.                                                420
9  (tooth adj3 cavit:).mp.                                                216
10 (dental adj3 cavit:).mp.                                               275
11 (dentin adj3 cavit:).mp.                                               251
12 (enamel adj3 cavit:).mp.                                               180
13 (teeth adj3 decay:).mp.                                                367
14 (tooth adj3 decay:).mp.                                                319
15 (dental adj3 decay:).mp.                                               246
16 (dentin adj3 decay:).mp.                                                12
17 (enamel adj3 decay:).mp.                                                20
18 (active adj decay).mp.                                                   9
19 (rampant adj3 decay:).mp.                                               14
20 (recurrent adj3 decay:).mp.                                             30
21 (white adj spot:).mp.                                                  504
22 carious.mp.                                                           2063
23 cariology.ti,ab.                                                        56
24 (non-cavitated adj3 lesion:).mp.                                        15
25 (noncavitated adj3 lesion:).mp.                                          2
26 Tooth remineralization/                                                469
27 (tooth adj3 remineralization).mp.                                       21
28 (teeth adj3 remineralization).mp.                                       20
29 (dental adj3 fissure:).mp.                                              98
30 (tooth adj3 fissure:).mp.                                               50
31 (teeth adj3 fissure:).mp.                                               97
32 (oral adj fissure:).mp.                                                  6
33 caries-free.mp.                                                        596
34 cariesfree.mp.                                                          17
35 Cariogenic agents/                                                     728
36 precavit:.mp.                                                            8
37 (filled adj3 teeth).mp.                                                505
38 (filled adj3 tooth).mp.                                                115
39 cariogenic:.mp.                                                       1777
40 dft.mp.                                                                406
41 dfs.mp.                                                               1235
42 dmf:.mp.                                                              6340
43 or/1-39                                                              32060

Caries Filter (Disease-Focused Version): Cut-N-Paste

NOTE: Highlight text to cut and paste. If you have any problems, try FIRST pasting into a text editor, such as WordPad on the PCs, BBEdit or Stickies on the Mac. Then correct for missing spaces, cut and paste again from the text editor into your OVID search window.

PC version

exp Tooth demineralization/ or Cariogenic agents/ or Tooth remineralization/ or cariogenic:.mp. or (caries-free or cariesfree).mp. or precavit:.mp. or demineralization.mp. or (caries or caires or craies or careis or carise).mp. or carious.mp. or cariology.ti,ab. or ((teeth or tooth or dental or dentin or enamel) adj3 cavit:).mp. or ((teeth or tooth or dental or dentin or enamel or rampant or recurrent) adj3 decay:).mp. or ((active adj decay) or (white adj spot:)).mp. or ((non-cavitated or noncavitated) adj3 lesion:).mp. or ((tooth or teeth) adj3 remineralization).mp. or ((dental or tooth or teeth) adj3 fissure:).mp. or ((tooth or teeth) adj3 fissure:).mp. or ((teeth adj3 fissure:) or (oral adj fissure:)).mp. or (filled adj3 (teeth or tooth)).mp. or (dft or dfs or dmf:).mp. 6340

Mac version (Enter as five search statements, then combine. Hint: Use "or" to combine.)

(exp Tooth demineralization/) or Cariogenic agents/ or Tooth remineralization/ or cariogenic:.mp. or (caries-free or cariesfree).mp. or precavit:.mp.

(caries or caires or craies or careis or carise).mp. or carious.mp. or cariology.ti,ab. or ((teeth or tooth or dental or dentin or enamel) adj3 cavit:).mp.

((teeth or tooth or dental or dentin or enamel or rampant or recurrent) adj3 decay:).mp. or ((active adj decay) or (white adj spot:)).mp. or (dft or dfs or dmf:).mp

((non-cavitated or noncavitated) adj3 lesion:).mp. or ((tooth or teeth) adj3 remineralization).mp. or ((dental or tooth or teeth) adj3 fissure:).mp.

((tooth or teeth) adj3 fissure:).mp. or ((teeth adj3 fissure:) or (oral adj fissure:)).mp. or (filled adj3 (teeth or tooth)).mp. or demineralization.mp.

Caries Filter (More Inclusive Version): Line-By-Line

1     exp Tooth demineralization/                                       22511
2     demineralization.mp.                                               1602
3     caries.mp.                                                        15173
4     caires.mp.                                                            1
5     craies.mp.                                                            0
6     careis.mp.                                                            4
7     carise.mp.                                                            0
8     "tooth cavit:".mp.                                                   33
9     "teeth cavit:".mp.                                                   42
10    "dental cavit:".mp.                                                6002
11    "dentin cavit:".mp.                                                  98
12    "enamel cavit:".mp.                                                  28
13    "tooth decay:".mp.                                                  235
14    "teeth decay:".mp.                                                   11
15    "dentin decay:".mp.                                                   2
16    "active decay".mp.                                                    9
17    "dental decay:".mp.                                                 202
18    "white spot:".mp.                                                   504
19    "enamel decay".mp.                                                    3
20    "rampant decay".mp.                                                   5
21    "recurrent decay".mp.                                                25
22    carious.mp.                                                        2060
23    "non-cavitated lesion:".mp.                                           3
24    "noncavitated lesion:".mp.                                            1
25    Tooth remineralization/                                             469
26    "dental fissure:".mp.                                               283
27    "tooth fissure:".mp.                                                 12
28    "teeth fissure:".mp.                                                 10
29    "oral fissure:".mp.                                                   6
30    "cariesfree".mp.                                                     17
31    "caries-free".mp.                                                   593
32    "cariogenic:".mp.                                                  1777
33    Cariogenic agents/                                                  728
34    "filled teeth".mp.                                                  261
35    "filled tooth".mp.                                                   59
36    precavit:.mp.                                                         8
37    cariology.ti,ab.                                                     56
38    "tooth remineraliz:".mp.                                            470
39    "teeth remineraliz:".mp.                                              2
40    dft.mp.                                                             406
41    dfs.mp.	                                                         1235
42    dmf:.mp.                                                           6340
43    or/1-42                                                           36120 

Caries Filter (More Inclusive Version): Cut-N-Paste

NOTE: Highlight text to cut and paste. If you have any problems, try FIRST pasting into a text editor, such as WordPad on the PCs, BBEdit or Stickies on the Mac. Then correct for missing spaces, cut and paste again from the text editor into your OVID search window.

PC version

exp Tooth demineralization/ or demineralization.mp. or caries.mp. or caires.mp. or craies.mp. or careis.mp. or "tooth cavit:".mp. or "teeth cavit:".mp.or "dental cavit:".mp. or "tooth decay:".mp. or "teeth decay:".mp. or "active decay".mp. or "white spots".mp. or "enamel decay".mp. or "rampant decay".mp. or carious.mp. or "non-cavitated lesion:".mp. or "noncavitated lesion:".mp. or "precavitat:".mp. or Tooth remineralization/ or "dental fissure:".mp. or "tooth fissure:".mp. or "teeth fissure:".mp. or "oral fissure:".mp. or "cariesfree".mp. or "caries-free".mp. or "cariogenic:".mp. or Cariogenic agents/ or "filled teeth".mp. or "filled tooth".mp. or dft.mp. or dfs.mp. or dmf:.mp.

Mac version (Enter as four search statements, then combine. Hint: Use "or" to combine.)

exp Tooth demineralization/ or demineralization.mp. or caries.mp. or caires.mp. or craies.mp. or careis.mp. or "tooth cavit:".mp. or "teeth cavit:".mp.or "dental cavit:".mp. or "tooth decay:".mp.

"teeth decay:".mp. or "active decay".mp. or "white spots".mp. or "enamel decay".mp. or "rampant decay".mp. or carious.mp. or "non-cavitated lesion:".mp. or "noncavitated lesion:".mp.

"precavitat:".mp. or Tooth remineralization/ or "dental fissure:".mp. or "tooth fissure:".mp. or "teeth fissure:".mp. or "oral fissure:".mp. or "cariesfree".mp. or "caries-free".mp.

"cariogenic:".mp. or Cariogenic agents/ or "filled teeth".mp. or "filled tooth".mp. or dft.mp. or dfs.mp. or dmf:.mp.

Modifications to Caries Filter

These madifications are designed to correct for search problems experienced as the project progressed. For consistency among searches, it was not recommended to change the hedge during the research project. These suggestions represent lessons learned during the project, and should result in a more effective hedge than the original version.

It is recommended to remove search sets 5 and 7 (as long as they give "0" retrieval) and 40, the term "dfs", which retrieved off-topic items. DFS is used for "disease-free-survival" more often than it is used for "decayed filled surfaces". This was compensated for in certain of the searches by searching and then excluding the following search statement:

44    (disease$1 adj free adj (survival or patient$1)).mp.               6869
45    43 not 44

Enrichments to Caries Hedge

Dental Leakage
44    Dental leakage/                                                     609
45    (mineral adj loss).mp.                                              193
46    or/43-45                                                          12479
Dental Plaque
44    Dental plaque/                                                    10264
45    ((tooth or teeth or dent:) adj3 (placque or plaque)).mp.           3494
46    or/43-45                                                          40621
Therapy & Prevention
44    (pc or th).fs.                                                  1011356
45    43 and 44                                                         11962