Microcomputed Tomography Mineral Density Profile as Reference Standard for Early Carious Lesion Activity Assessment.

ABSTRACT: Early caries diagnosis is crucial to treatment decisions in dentistry and requires identification of lesion activity: whether a carious lesion is active (progressively demineralizing) or arrested (progressively remineralizing). This study aimed to identify microtomographic (micro-CT) differences between active and arrested smooth surface enamel lesions, to quantify those micro-CT differences by creating thresholds for ex vivo caries activity assessment to serve as a future reference standard, and to validate those thresholds against the remaining sample. Extracted human permanent teeth (n = 59) were selected for sound surfaces and non-cavitated smooth surface carious lesions. Each surface was then examined for caries activity by calibrated individuals via visual-tactile examination using t

SUBMITTER: Hoxie AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10641798 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature