Initial in vitro evaluation of DIAGNOdent for detecting secondary carious lesions associated with resin composite restorations.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the potential of DIAGNOdent (DD) readings for detecting secondary enamel and dentin carious lesions associated with resin composite restorations in a set of preserved extracted adult teeth.


METHODS
Thirty test sites adjacent to resin composite restorations in 15 extracted teeth were evaluated visually and with DD readings for enamel and dentin caries. The results were compared to gold standard diagnosis determined by sectioning through each site and subsequent microscopic observation. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and likelihood ratios at optimum threshold values for enamel and dentin caries were determined. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to compare visual and DD diagnostic methods.


RESULTS
Histologic incidence of enamel caries was 20% and dentin caries was 36.67%. All composite restorations in the sample teeth fluoresced (range 5 to 22). For enamel caries detection with DD, the optimum threshold of > or = 26 produced a sensitivity of .67 and a specificity of .79. For dentin caries detection with DD, the optimum threshold of > or = 22 produced a sensitivity of .73 and a specificity of .84. ROC analysis showed that the DD readings do contain diagnostic information. DD readings for dentin caries diagnosis produced better diagnostic results compared to visual readings for the 30 test sites in the study, but these results were not significantly different.


CONCLUSIONS
DIAGNOdent readings may have potential for resin composite secondary enamel and dentin carious lesion detection. DIAGNOdent instrument design factors and technique should be optimized to improve performance prior to clinical trial for this application.
Boston
Daniel W
DW
Department of Restorative Dentistry, Temple University School of Dentistry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140, USA. dboston@dental.temple.edu
D000328:Adult; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000191:economics; D003743:Dental Enamel; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003804:Dentin; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D012372:ROC Curve; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity