The dynamic behavior of the early dental caries lesion in caries-active adults and implications.

Objective: To describe the full range of behavior of the visible, noncavitated, early caries lesion in caries-active adults with substantial fluoride exposure, and to consider implications.

Methods: The data were from the Xylitol for Adult Caries Trial (X-ACT) collected annually for 33 months using condensed ICDAS caries threshold criteria. Individual tooth surfaces having a noncavitated caries lesion were included, and the patterns of transition to each subsequent annual clinical examination to sound, noncavitated or cavitated, filled or crowned were determined.