Relationship between the color of carious dentin with varying lesion activity, and bacterial detection

Microbicidal activities of low frequency atmospheric pressure plasma jets on oral pathogens

“…It was demonstrated that the sterilization effect was due to ROS (O2 − • and HOO•) because addition of SOD inhibited the sterilization of microorganisms in suspension. 4. Sterilization effect was demonstrated for both heights of the solution; 2.5 mm and 5 mm, although the plasma-mediated sterilization was more effective for the shallower media.…”

“…A caries detector solution, which selectively stains only the caries affecting dentin, is being used in clinical dentistry to differentiate carious dentin from sound hard tissue. Despite this technique, it has been reported that some bacteria remain inside the dentinal tubules, even after removal of the stained dentin [2][3][4] , and these remaining bacteria may subsequently lead to secondary caries 5) . Furthermore, it has been reported that the success rate of root canal treatment is about 80%, apparently due to incomplete intra-canal sterilization and obturation [6][7][8] .…”

Validity of a portable microhardness testing system (Cariotester) for diagnosis of progression in active caries lesions

“…The only molars included in the experiment were those with dentin caries lesions that were pale yellow, had no natural black/brown staining or pulp exposure, and were stained clearly with a caries detector dye (1% acid red in propylene glycol -Caries Detector; Kuraray Medical, Osaka, Japan). After application of the dye, color images of the lesion surface were taken with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera (DS-Fi1, Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), and the corrected a* values (corresponding to the CIE 1976 L*a*b* color system) of these surfaces were measured as in our previous study 5,6) . The corrected a* values of the dentinal lesion surfaces used in this experiment after application of the dye were all >20.…”

“…The corrected a* values of the dentinal lesion surfaces used in this experiment after application of the dye were all >20. These caries lesions were presumed to be typically active or acute if they exhibited clear dye staining 17) and had corrected a* values of >20 5) , whereas typical arrested or chronic lesions were not (or only very weakly) stained 17) and had corrected a* values of <20 5) . Carious dentin from near the pulp horn and along the enamel-dentin junction was not used in this experiment.…”

“…However, current diagnostic methods based on visual evaluation of lesion color (with or without application of a caries detector dye) and tactile evaluation of its hardness with an excavator, are subjective 3,4) . We have reported previously the design and validation of an objective evaluation method for assessing the color of carious dentin using the CIE 1976 L*a*b* color system, with which we investigated the relationship between the color of carious dentin and the presence of bacteria in the lesions in vitro 5,6) . A potential alternative diagnostic method is to measure the in vitro hardness of carious dentin, which has been attempted previously 7,8) , but these studies found that the microhardness testers used these in vitro experiments were not applicable to in vivo situations.…”