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Reliability of marginal microleakage assessment by visual and digital methods
Fábio Augusto de Santi Alvarenga1, Camila Pinelli2, Leonor de Castro Monteiro Loffredo2
1Department of Restorative Dentistry, Araraquara School of Dentistry, UNESP - Univ Estadual Paulista, Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil.
European Journal of Dentistry
|February 26, 2015
Summary
Both visual and digital methods demonstrate high reliability for assessing marginal microleakage in dental restorations. These techniques ensure consistent and accurate evaluations of restoration integrity.
Area of Science:
- Restorative Dentistry
- Dental Materials Science
- Biomaterials Evaluation
Background:
- Marginal microleakage is a critical factor affecting the longevity of dental restorations.
- Accurate assessment of microleakage is essential for evaluating new restorative materials and techniques.
- Existing methods for microleakage assessment require rigorous validation for reliability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the reliability of visual and digital methods for assessing marginal microleakage in vitro.
- To determine the intra- and inter-examiner agreement for each assessment method.
Main Methods:
- Class V cavities in bovine teeth were restored with composite resin.
- Dye penetration was assessed using a stereomicroscope (visual) and Image Tool Software (digital).
- Kappa statistics and intraclass correlation coefficients were used to evaluate examiner agreement.
Main Results:
- The visual method showed substantial to almost perfect intra-examiner agreement (κ=0.76–0.87) and almost perfect inter-examiner agreement (κ=0.84).
- The digital method demonstrated almost perfect intra- and inter-examiner agreement (ρ=0.99).
Conclusions:
- Both visual (stereomicroscope) and digital (Image Tool Software) methods exhibit high reproducibility for assessing marginal microleakage.
- These findings support the use of both methods for reliable in vitro evaluation of dental restorations.
