Dnj. Ricketts et al., ELECTRONIC DIAGNOSIS OF OCCLUSAL CARIES IN-VITRO - ADAPTATION OF THE TECHNIQUE FOR EPIDEMIOLOGIC PURPOSES, Community dentistry and oral epidemiology, 25(3), 1997, pp. 238-241
Citations number
7
Categorie Soggetti
Dentistry,Oral Surgery & Medicine","Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath
Most studies on electronic diagnosis of occlusal caries have involved
taking site-specific conductance measurements. Airflow around the elec
tronic caries monitor probe removes superficial moisture and the condu
ctance measurement reflects the caries status of that part of the fiss
ure beneath the probe tip. This is an appropriate technique for a clin
ician to use to monitor caries status, and it could be adapted for use
in epidemiological studies and clinical trials. The present work inve
stigated an alternative technique using a jelly as a contact medium ov
er the entire fissure system so that the probe might record the overal
l caries status of the tooth reflecting the worst affected site. Readi
ngs were taken on 96 extracted teeth with dye-coloured jelly acting as
a contact medium. Readings were repealed on 32 teeth. Histological va
lidation of caries status was carried out by visual examination of ser
ial sections through each tooth to note the deepest lesion. The sensit
ivity and specificity of the overall electronic caries monitor reading
s were calculated for all lesions and dentine lesions only using selec
ted resistance cut-off points and presented as a series of Receiver Op
erating Characteristic (ROC) curves. The optimum sensitivity and speci
ficity values were, for all lesions: 61% and 86%, and for dentine lesi
ons: 76% and 76% respectively. The reproducibility of the readings was
acceptable (Kappa values for all lesions= 0.76, for dentine lesions=0
.55). The technique warrants further study as an overall reading may b
e more appropriate for epidemiological and clinical trial use.