title: Dentin reactions to caries are misinterpreted by histological "gold standards".
abstract: Dentin reactions to caries, crucial for pathogenesis and for the determination of the severity of caries lesions, are believed to be reasonably detected by stereomicroscopy (SM) and polarized light microscopy in quinoline (PLMQ), but accuracies are not available. Here, stereomicroscopy of wet (SW) and dry (SD) ground sections of natural occlusal caries lesions resulted in moderate (0.7, for normal dentin) and low accuracies (< 0.6, for carious and sclerotic dentin) as validated by contrast-corrected microradiography. Accuracies of PLMQ were moderate for both normal (0.71) and carious dentin (0.71). The hypothesis that detection of dentin reactions by SM and PLMQ would be influenced by the contrast quality of micrographic images was rejected. Dentin reactions were scored by SW, SD, PLMQ, and three types of microradiographic images with varying contrast qualities and each technique was compared against the one that resulted in the highest number of scores for each dentin reaction. Large differences resulted, mainly related to the detection of sclerotic dentin by both SW and SD, and normal and carious dentin by PLMQ. It is concluded that contrast-corrected microradiography should be preferred as the gold standard and SM and PLMQ should be avoided, but the relationship of PLMQ with dentin mineralization deserves further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphology, Health Science Center, Federal University of Paraiba, Cidade Universitária, Paraiba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
authors.forename: Priscila Florentino
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microscopy and Biological Image, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Paraiba, Cidade Universitária, Paraiba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
authors.forename: Danilo Augusto
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: de Holanda Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microscopy and Biological Image, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Paraiba, Cidade Universitária, Paraiba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kássia Regina Simões
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Meira
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Social Dentistry, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Paraiba, Cidade Universitária, Paraiba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
authors.forename: Franklin Delano Soares
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Forte
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphology, Health Science Center, Federal University of Paraiba, Cidade Universitária, Paraiba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Maria Barros
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chaves
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphology, Health Science Center, Federal University of Paraiba, Cidade Universitária, Paraiba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Brazil ; Laboratory of Microscopy and Biological Image, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Paraiba, Cidade Universitária, Paraiba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
authors.forename: Frederico Barbosa
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: de Sousa