Dental calculus detection using the VistaCam

Abstract

The VistaCam® intra‐oral camera system (Dürr Dental, Bietigheim‐Bissingen, Germany) is a fluorescence system using light emitting diodes that produce a 405‐nm violet light. This wavelength has potential application for detection of dental calculus based on red emissions from porphyrin molecules. This study assessed the digital scores obtained for both supragingival and subgingival calculus on 60 extracted teeth and compared these with lesions of dental caries. It has also examined the effect of saliva and blood on the fluorescence readings for dental calculus. VistaCam fluorescence scores for both supragingival (1.7–3.3) and subgingival calculus (1.3–2.4) were higher than those for sound root surfaces (0.9–1.1) and dental caries (0.9–2.2) (p < .05). The readings for calculus samples were not affected by the presence of saliva or blood. These results suggest that the use of violet light fluorescence could be a possible adjunct to clinical examination for deposits of dental calculus.

Diagnodent and VistaCam may be unsuitable for the evaluation of dental caries in archeological teeth

“…It is also pen‐shaped device and it is used for the same purposes as Diagnodent. Compared with Diagnodent, there are two significant differences: the excitation light has a wavelength of 405 nm and the scores are provided on a scale from 0.0 to 3.0 (Shakibaie & Walsh, ). Moreover, the result is recorded with a camera and the distribution of fields with different fluorescence is shown.…”

Application of Fluorescence Spectroscopy for Microbial Detection to Enhance Clinical Investigations

“…As shown in Table 1, the fluorescent decay kinetics of both protoporphyrin and carious tooth sample region are quite comparable, with a similar proportion of molecules having lifetimes of 3 and 17 ns [57].…”

“…König had previously explored a similar concept while studying carious tooth tissue and had found emissions mainly in the visible red spectral region when samples were excited by a 407 nm (UVA) krypton ion laser [57]. Most carious teeth in König's experiments displayed a fluorescence maximum at 635 nm, and fewer than 10% of carious teeth examined showed additional maxima around 590 and 620 nm.…”

“…As shown in Table 2, their presence is not a unique property of bacteria associated with dental caries. Bacterial strains such as Bacteroides intermedius and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, not associated with dental caries, when grown on agar plates and excited by 407 nm light, also display emission maxima at 635 and 700 nm [57]. Likewise, Corynebacterium species emit fluorescence around 620 nm, which corresponds to coproporphyrin fluorescence.…”

“…Most carious teeth in König's experiments displayed a fluorescence maximum at 635 nm, and fewer than 10% of carious teeth examined showed additional maxima around 590 and 620 nm. These emission maxima correspond to the known emission peaks of protoporphyrin (633 nm), coproporphyrin (623 nm) and Zn protoporphyrin (593 nm) [57], as shown in Figure 6.…”