[Test of an electronic fissure caries detector]

The reliability of an electronic detector for caries in pits and fissures was tested by means of physical measurements, histological sections and clinical evaluation. The device measures the ohmic resistance of the tooth, technical data are given. First we compared measurements and histological sections of teeth due for extraction. The results indicated a high sensitivity of the device for caries, false positive diagnoses did not occur. Based on this, a clinical evaluation on 179 teeth was performed. Under practical conditions the sensitivity of the electronic detector (0.77) was lower than in the first part of the study; conventional diagnosis revealed more carious lesions in dentine (sensitivity: 0.82).