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In vivo validation of near-infrared light transillumination for interproximal dentin caries detection

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Abstract

Objectives

The aims of this clinical study were to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of near-infrared light transillumination (NILT) as a novel X-ray-free method for proximal dentin caries detection and to compare this method to established diagnostic methods.

Materials and methods

A total of 127 interproximal dentin caries lesions without any cavity within visible dentin in posterior teeth from 85 consecutively selected patients were included. Visual and radiographic diagnoses and laser fluorescence measurements were available. NILT images were obtained, and a dentin lesion was predicted if a demineralisation involved the enamel-dentin junction (NILT-EDJ) or a shadow in dentin was detectable (NILT-dentin). Included lesions were opened and validated (reference standard). The statistical analyses included descriptive analyses and calculations of sensitivity, specificity and Az values.

Results

The diagnostic accuracy with respect to the reference standard was 1.6 % for visual inspection, 66.7 % for laser fluorescence, 96.1 % for digital radiography, 29.1 % for NILT-dentin and 99.2 % for NILT-EDJ. Bitewings (Az 0.984) and NILT-EDJ (Az 0.992) performed equally.

Conclusion

Given the lack of true negatives in the study, the diagnostic accuracy of NILT achieved the same level as bitewings for the detection of proximal dentin caries.

Clinical relevance

This study might indicate that NILT could reduce the usage of bitewings.

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Conflict of interest

The clinical work was supported by KaVo (Biberach, Germany). The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with regard to the authorship and/or publication of this article. Further, the publication of the study results was not hindered by any requests from the financial supporter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, 80336, Munich, Germany

    Jan Kühnisch, Friederike Söchtig, Vinay Pitchika & Reinhard Hickel

  2. Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Rüdiger Laubender

  3. Department of Preventive, Restorative, and Pediatric Dentistry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Klaus W. Neuhaus & Adrian Lussi

Authors
  1. Jan Kühnisch
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  2. Friederike Söchtig
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  3. Vinay Pitchika
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  4. Rüdiger Laubender
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  5. Klaus W. Neuhaus
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  6. Adrian Lussi
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  7. Reinhard Hickel
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Correspondence to Jan Kühnisch.

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Kühnisch, J., Söchtig, F., Pitchika, V. et al. In vivo validation of near-infrared light transillumination for interproximal dentin caries detection. Clin Oral Invest 20, 821–829 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-015-1559-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-015-1559-4

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