In Vivo Quantification of Occlusal Caries Using DIAGNOdent

Objective: DIAGNOdent has been studied extensively either in vivo or in vitro during the past few years. The aims of the present study were first to validate DIAGNOdent for in vivo detection and quantification of occlusal caries using histopathological examination as gold standard. Secondly, to study how DIAGNOdent readings alters when the environment changes from in vivo to in vitro conditions. Methods: Fifty wisdom teeth from 50 patients planned for extraction were included in the study. The occlusal surfaces were macroscopically intact with suspicion of presence of caries. Digital pictures of each occlusal surface were registered. One suspicious site from each tooth was measured systematically according to the schedule, i.e. before the extraction, immediately after, 3 days after, and after 1 week, 2 weeks, one month and three months. After extraction the teeth were saved in saturated thymol saline. All the specimens were then prepared to 300mm slices by a water-cooled diamond saw. Histopathological analyses are on going. Results: Paired t- test did not indicate any statistically significant difference between DIAGNOdent readings obtained intraorally and from extracted teeth. Nor were any significant difference found among groups of DIAGNOdent readings during a period of a 3 month after extraction. Analysis regarding validation is not complete yet. Conclusion: no systematic difference was found between measurements performed on teeth in vivo and on extracted teeth using DIAGNOdent.