Developing clinical practice guidelines for caries prevention and management for pre-school children through the ADAPTE process and Delphi consensus

BACKGROUND This study aims to develop consensus evidence-based clinical guidelines for caries prevention and management by caries risk assessment for pre-school children in Hong Kong. METHODS Employing the ADAPTE process, guidelines for caries prevention and management by caries risk assessment for pre-school children with a preliminary list of 91 recommendations was complied. External review of the guidelines was conducted by a panel of 41 reviewers from the Hong Kong Society of Paediatric Dentistry using a two-round web-based Delphi process. The reviewers were invited to contribute any comments on the draft-adapted guidelines and rated their agreement with each recommendation using a 9-point Likert scale. During the second round, 36 participants received anonymous feedback from the first round and assessed a narrowed list of 28 recommendations. Recommendations were retained and classified according to the median score and rating percentages by the reviewers. RESULTS A total of 70 out of 91 recommendations were retained (five reached high consensus, 65 reached consensus), and 21 recommendations were discarded. Recommendations and guidelines were outlined. CONCLUSIONS Caries prevention and management guidelines for pre-school children were developed for use in Hong Kong using the ADAPTE process and Delphi consensus to develop evidence-based recommendations. This can facilitate the translation of guidelines into dental practice.