Aim: In response to the introduction of an integrated dentaleducation program at University of Malaya (UM) in 2011,a study was conducted to develop a caries risk assessmentmodel (CRA) for use in non-surgical caries managementfor Year 3 and 4 students of the new integrated program.Methods: The CRA model was based on risk indicatorsused by dental students in the Preventive Dental Clinic(PDC). Patients aged 15 years and above who attended thePDC for the first time in year 2009 and 2010 were used asstudy sample. Four hundred and fourteen patient nameswere identified from the student PDC logbook. Of the414, 359 dental records had complete data and includedin the analysis. Data were analysed using SPSS version17.0. Chi-square test was used for group comparison andassociated factors for coronal caries were analysed usingMultiple Logistic Regression (MLR). Results: The finalmodel showed that adults, brushing teeth once daily,and not having dental prosthesis/appliance were 3.31(CI=1.64-6.69), 2.53 (CI=1.19-5.40), and 2.25 (CI=1.25-4.10) more likely to develop coronal caries, respectively,than adolescents, brushing teeth at least twice a day, andhaving dental prosthesis/appliance. Conclusions: Theresults indicate that age group, toothbrushing frequencyand dental prosthesis status are significant indicators forcoronal caries among patients. Outcomes of the studycontributed towards bridging the gap between cariologyand preventive modules in the new integrated dentalprogram.

Background: In non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), transient elastography (TE) is an accurate non-invasive method to identify patients at risk of advanced fibrosis (AF). We developed a diabetes-specific, non-invasive liver fibrosis score based on TE to facilitate AF risk stratification, especially for use in diabetes clinics where TE is not readily available. Methods: Seven hundred sixty-six adults with type 2 diabetes and NAFLD were recruited and randomly divided into a training set (n=534) for the development of diabetes fibrosis score (DFS), and a testing set (n=232) for internal validation. DFS identified patients with AF on TE, defined as liver stiffness (LS) ≥9.6 kPa, based on a clinical model comprising significant determinants of LS with the lowest Akaike information criteria. The performance of DFS was compared with conventional liver fibrosis scores (NFS, FIB-4, and APRI), using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (NPV). Results: DFS comprised body mass index, platelet, aspartate aminotransferase, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and albuminuria, five routine measurements in standard diabetes care. Derived low and high DFS cut-offs were 0.1 and 0.3, with 90% sensitivity and 90% specificity, respectively. Both cut-offs provided better NPVs of >90% than conventional fibrosis scores. The AUROC of DFS for AF on TE was also higher (P<0.01) than the conventional fibrosis scores, being 0.85 and 0.81 in the training and testing sets, respectively. Conclusion Compared to conventional fibrosis scores, DFS, with a high NPV, more accurately identified diabetes patients at-risk of AF, who need further evaluation by hepatologists.