In vitro evaluation of the influence of air abrasion on detection of occlusal caries lesions in primary teeth.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of cleaning pits and fissures with an aluminum oxide air abrasion system on the detection of occlusal caries in primary teeth using loser fluorescence (LF) and visual examination.


METHODS
The sample comprised 65 pit and fissure sites on extracted primary teeth suspected to be carious. The sites were submitted to 2 visual examinations (examiner JAR) and 2 LF readings (examiner TMV). Next, the occlusal surfaces were air-abraded and re-examined thereafter using both methods. The teeth were sectioned, and the histological analysis of the sites with a stereoscopic magnifying lens at X32 magnification was used as the gold standard.


RESULTS
Cohen's kappa statistic for LF and visual examination were, respectively, 0.282/0.884 before and 0.896/0.905 after air abrasion. LF showed a sensitivity of 0.28 increasing to 0.49 and a specificity of 0.50 increasing to 0.92. Visual examination showed sensitivity of 0.78 and specificity of 0.73. Both increased after air abrasion.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that cleaning pits and fissures with aluminum oxide air abrasion increased the accuracy of LF and visual examination for detection of occlusal caries in primary teeth.
Rodrigues
Jonas de Almeida
Jde A
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry of Araraquara, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil. jorodrigues@hotmail.com
de Vita
Thais Maria
TM
Cordeiro
Rita de Cássia Loiola
Rde C
D000537:Aluminum Oxide; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000473:pathology; D003750:Dental Fissures / Q000175:diagnosis; D003764:Dental Materials; D003804:Dentin / Q000473:pathology; D019243:Enamel Microabrasion / Q000379:methods*; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D023861:Photography, Dental; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017001:Tooth Demineralization / Q000175:diagnosis; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000473:pathology*; D014796:Visual Perception
D003764:Dental Materials; D000537:Aluminum Oxide