Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Secondary caries and the replacement of existing restorations account for 50 to 70
percent of operative dentistry today. Quantitative Light Fluorescence (QLF) has been
shown to be effective at diagnosing very early tooth demineralization on smooth surfaces
(less than 50 μ in depth); however, QLF has never been utilized to evaluate secondary
caries in dentin. The objective of this study was to validate the accuracy of QLF in
diagnosing early secondary caries and then verify the results using confocal microscopy
and polarized light microscopy. Seventy-five mandibular molar teeth were prepared with
Class V amalgam preparations on the mesial surface. A fluoridated varnish and 1.23-
percent acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) were introduced to this evaluation system, two agents known to effectively inhibit tooth demineralization. The artificial caries
system utilized was adjusted to ensure that secondary caries would occur at
restoration/tooth surface interfaces. The teeth were exposed to this artificial caries
challenge for five days and following lesion formation, QLF was used to determine if
incipient demineralization could be detected. The results of the QLF analysis were then
compared with the data gathered using confocal microscopy and polarized light
microscopy. Our results demonstrate that QLF detected 100 percent of the lesions seen
with confocal microscopy and polarized light microscopy; however, no sound specimens
were analyzed with any of the three techniques. There were no consistent significant
differences between the fluoridated varnish and APF (p < 0.05) with any of the three
methods utilized. We conclude that QLF can be used in early caries diagnosis and that
emphasis should now be focused on treatment of the early lesion.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:IUPUI/oai:scholarworks.iupui.edu:1805/3712 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Quackenbush, Brett Michael |
| Contributors | Dean, Jeffrey A., Fontana, Margherita Ruth, 1966-, Stookey, George K., Tomlin, Angela, Donly, Kevin J. |
| Source Sets | Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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