Near-Infrared Transillumination for Occlusal Carious Lesion Detection: A Retrospective Reliability Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of three diagnostic methods (near-infrared transillumination (NIRT), bitewing radiographs (BW), and clinical images (CI)) to detect occlusal carious lesions in a low caries risk population. This retrospective analysis included one hundred and eighty-eight occlusal surfaces, scored as sound surface, early lesion, or distinct lesion. We evaluated the agreement between and within the methods over time. Kappa statistics tested the correlation between the methods. Examiners detected occlusal early lesions more frequently with visual examination and NIRT and the same lesions were confirmed on the 2-year follow-up. Within the limitations of this study, we were able to establish that early occlusal lesions can be detected and monitored over time using NIRT and visual exam, while BW scores showed mostly sound surfaces at both examinations. NIRT combined with clinical examination can be considered appropriate to detect and monitor early enamel caries on the occlusal surface in low caries-risk populations.

Polarization-Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography for Monitoring De- and Remineralization of Bovine Enamel In Vitro

“…Gomez and Al Saffan discussed some currently available non-invasive methods, such as quantitative light-induced fluorescence, DIAGNOdent, fiber-optic transillumination and electrical conductance for detection of early caries [6,7] with the result that all caries detection methods alone are subject to error and that additional methods should be used to aid clinical decision-making. In addition, Intraoral scanners using nearinfrared transillumination or light-induced fluorescence technology are among the latest innovations for X-ray-free caries diagnostics [8,9]. They offer a fast in real-time caries imaging which is patient-friendly [10].Further research is needed to improve the accuracy of these scanners, as non-cavitated lesions have often been misclassified as healthy [10,11].…”

Accuracy of an intraoral scanner with near‐infrared imaging feature in detection of interproximal caries of permanent teeth: An in vivo validation

“…Accordingly, the NIRI transillumination feature is one of the recent improvements in dental intraoral scanners. 19,20 Although many studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of near-infrared technology in proximal caries diagnosis, [24][25][26] the caries diagnostic feature integrated into a scanner is a contemporary approach and related clinical studies are limited in the literature. 19,27,28 Nevertheless, the combination of several diagnostic techniques involving near-infrared light was reported to improve the diagnosis accuracy in proximal caries.…”

Detection, Diagnosis, and Monitoring of Early Caries: The Future of Individualized Dental Care

“…invasive and micro-invasive treatments to be effective. 2: The possibility of monitoring the lesion progression after providing non-invasive and micro-invasive measures [58][59][60][61].…”