This has been advocated by Willmot[12] in a clinical study on whi

This has been advocated by Willmot[12] in a clinical study on white spot Z-VAD-FMK molecular weight lesions, photographed with conventional and digital cameras. However, there are a few studies identifying the reliability of the methods for the measurement of active enamel demineralization lesions.[12,13] This study aims at assessing intra- and inter-examiner reliability for the measurement (surface area �C mm2) of artificially created active enamel demineralization, with and without a lesion delimiting window, by using manual (digital caliper) and computing (Image Tool version 4.1 software) methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sample preparation Twenty sound bovine teeth were selected for the study, none of which presented with grooves, hypoplasia or stains.

The teeth were fixed on glass laminas by means of sticky wax and then sectioned into 38 fragments (dimension of 5 �� 5 mm) with a double-faced diamond disk mounted on an electric cutter (Isomet Low Speed Buheler, USA). A circular area of approximately 4 mm in diameter was isolated with adhesive tape and the fragment was made completely waterproof with nail varnish. After drying, the adhesive tape was removed from the enamel with a sharp-tipped instrument and the circular area exhibiting the enamel surface was exposed. The dental fragments were randomly enumerated (1 to 38). To make the sample handling easier, the samples were inserted (six at a time) into devices containing epoxy resin. The fragments were then submersed in 600 ml of demineralizing solution (3 mmol/L calcium, 3 mmol/L phosphate, and 50 ml/L acetic acid, pH 4.

5 adjusted with NaOH)[14] for five days at a constant temperature of 37��C, in an incubator, for artificial formation of an active demineralization area, simulating an incipient carious lesion. After this exposure period, the dental fragments were washed with deionized water for one minute and dried with an air-jet for 15 seconds. Digital images of these dental fragments with active enamel demineralization, delimited by the nail varnish window, were obtained with a digital camera (Nikon Coolpix S4). The camera was fixed in a photographic tripod 10 cm high. The photo was obtained by using the camera flash, and a final focal distance of 10.0 cm was employed. The end result magnification was approximately 4X. As mentioned, both distance and angulation were standardized by means of a photographic apparatus [Figure 1].

Also, a millimeter ruler was placed close to this apparatus, along the same plane of the dental fragments, so that Brefeldin_A the photographic image could also capture a metric parameter, for further measurements [Figure 2a]. Figure 1 Photographic apparatus used for standardization of distance and angulation Figure 2 Dental fragments with (a) and without (b) window. Note the millimeter rule used as a metric parameter for further measurements Later the nail varnish was carefully removed by using acetone and cotton, exposing the whole fragment surface.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>