title: An in vitro comparison of quantitative light-induced fluorescence-digital and spectrophotometer on monitoring artificial white spot lesions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of quantitative light-induced fluorescence-digital (QLF-D) compared to a spectrophotometer in monitoring progression of enamel lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  To generate artificial caries with various severities of lesion depths, twenty bovine specimens were immersed in demineralizing solution for 40 days. During the production of the lesions, repeat measurements of fluorescence loss (ΔF) and color change (ΔE) were performed in six distinct stages after the demineralization of the specimens: after 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 days of exposure to the demineralizing solution. Changes in the ΔF values in the lesions were analyzed using the QLF-D, and changes in the ΔE values in lesions were analyzed using a spectrophotometer. The repeated measures ANOVA of ΔF and ΔE values were used to determine whether there are significant differences at different exposure times in the demineralizing solution. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was analyzed between ΔF and ΔE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ΔF values significantly decreased based on the demineralizing period (p<0.001). Relatively large changes in ΔF values were observed during the first 10 days. There were significant changes in L(*), a(*), b(*), and ΔE values in lesions with increasing demineralizing duration (p<0.001). A strong correlation was observed between ΔF and ΔE with p=-0.853 (p<0.001). The results support the efficacy of QLF-D in monitoring color changes. Our findings demonstrate that QLF-D are a more efficient and stable tool for early caries detection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Hygiene, College of Health Science, Gachon University, Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Eun
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dentistry and Public Oral Health, Oral Science Research Center, 21 PLUS Project, College of Dentistry, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: drkbi@yuhs.ac.
authors.forename: Baek-Il
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003732:Dental Caries Activity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005453:Fluorescence; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods*; D017001:Tooth Demineralization / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Disease progression; Early diagnosis; Enamel caries; Quantitative evaluation; Quantitative light-induced fluorescence-digital