Risk assessment is a valuable tool for the prevention and management of dental caries. Dentistry has entered an era of personalized care in which targeting care to individuals or groups based on their risk has been advocated. There are many risk tools and models in the literature. Some examples are provided in the following section.

The International Caries Detection and Assessment System is an evidence-based, preventively oriented strategy that classifies the visual appearance of a lesion (i.e., detection, whether or not disease is present), characterization/monitoring of the lesion once detected (i.e., assessment), and culminates in diagnosis.  The system is scored on clean, dry teeth and cautions against using sharp explorers or probes in order to prevent iatrogenic damage to the tooth.

The classification criteria, and associated estimates of caries activity, are based upon the histological extension of lesions spreading into tooth tissue. The scores are on a 7-point rating scale, as follows: