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Published on: April 29, 2014
Digital image analysis method to assess the performance of conventional and self-limiting concepts in dentine caries
Manuel Toledano1, Razvan Ghinea, Juan C Cardona
1University of Granada, School of Dentistry, Dental Materials, Campus de Cartuja, s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain. toledano@ugr.es
Objective:
To assess dentine caries removal effectiveness (CRE) and minimal invasiveness potential (MIP) of carbide and polymer burs.
Methods:
Sectioned carious molars were photographed. Digital images were taken, before and after caries removal, using a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera. The following regions of interest were measured using visual criteria: Residual Infected Dentine (RI), Residual Affected Dentine (RA), Removal Sound Dentine (RA), Prepared Cavity (PC) and Removed Sound Dentine (RS). CRE was determined on basis of: relative residual infected dentine (RI/II), relative residual carious-affected dentine (RA/IA) and total relative residual dentine (RI+RA/II-IA). MIP was determined on basis of: infected dentine cavity size (PC/II), total relative cavity size (PC/II+IA), and corrected relative cavity size (PC-RS/II+IA).
Results:
The polymer bur showed the highest preservation of carious-affected dentine after excavation, when the RA/IA ratio was studied. Both kind of burs showed similar values after assessing the RI/II and RI+RA/II-IA ratios. The infected dentine relative cavity size (PC/II) was higher when the carbide bur was used. Both burs attained similar PC/II+IA and PC-RS/II+IA ratios.
Conclusions:
Polymer burs accomplished the concept of minimal-invasive dentistry, showing its self-limiting ability. The minimal-invasiveness potential showed that carbide burs resulted in the worst compromise between effective and selective infected-caries removal.
