New methods of caries diagnosis

In industrialized countries the caries prevalence is rather low nowadays. This finding has several consequences. First of all, dentists can focus now on early detection of lesions. In addition, they can follow lesions over time (monitoring) to decide when it is appropriate to intervene invasively. It is not reliably possible to diagnose and classify carious lesions with the eye, only. Therefore over the last years several new diagnostic methods evolved to support the dentist in his decision process. Some of those devices are well investigated. Some of them do not supply any data to support their claims.

The current presentation will give an overview of currently available methods. The focus will be on optical systems which use either the fluorescence, reflectance or transillumination approach. Commercial examples are Diagnodent, Diagnodent Pen, QLF, Vistaproof, Caries ID or Difoti. In addition to published data on reliability and validity the author will supply additional insight to the systems based on physical and experimental facts including the results of different prototype materials. It is necessary, to address experimental problems, too, when talking about the subject of caries diagnoses, for example what is the best reference for the evaluation of their validity. Last but not least, besides the objective amount of knowledge gained from the different methods their practicability in a clinical context will be assessed by the author, too.