title: In vivo validation of near-infrared light transillumination for interproximal dentin caries detection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study might indicate that NILT could reduce the usage of bitewings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, 80336, Munich, Germany. jkuehn@dent.med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kühnisch
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, 80336, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Friederike
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Söchtig
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, 80336, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Vinay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pitchika
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Rüdiger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laubender
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive, Restorative, and Pediatric Dentistry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Klaus W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Neuhaus
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive, Restorative, and Pediatric Dentistry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lussi
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, 80336, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hickel
mesh_terms: D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003804:Dentin; D006801:Humans; D019252:Radiography, Dental, Digital; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014172:Transillumination
keywords: Caries detection; Caries diagnostics; DIAGNOcam; Dentin caries; Interproximal caries; Near-infrared light transillumination