Fig 1 Putting ourselves in our patient’s shoes we’d all like to catch those soft areas early before a full blown filling needs to be placed deep against our pulp. As clinicians, we appreciate having a "second set of eyes" looking into the enamel knowing that with today’s fluoride use we are challenged to find decay that can be quite extensive below the apparently intact enamel. We’d also like a better way to communicate the "need" to our patients when they present with almost undetectable, asymptomatic decay. CarieScan PRO helps us accomplish all these points.
Fig 3
Red is associated with a reading of 100 indicating a high probability that there is dentinal decay. Green is associated with a reading of 0 indicating health, and Yellow indicates varying degrees of possible demineralization more accurately defined by its quantified numerical reading. For more on this, click here.
As with our probing depths, patients can easily understand the significance of these objective and quantified readings. This information can also be compared historically using the CarieScan PRO Remote View software which sends the data to your computer via Bluetooth so to be stored and compared over time.
With earlier detection, clinical intervention may consist of remineralization therapy and the efficacy of this treatment can be monitored and quantified over time truly making this approach more appropriate than in the past.
Dr. Michael A. Miyasaki has practiced for 25 years, and has a private practice focusing on comprehensive, minimally-invasive aesthetic restorative dentistry and function in Sacramento, Calif. He has been involved with dental education for over 20 years and his primary educational focus today is to bring information to doctors and their teams so that they continue to provide high quality and predictable treatment experiences for their patients, thereby enhancing their practices’ success. He is the CEO of HDiQ Dental and founder of Principle-based Dentistry, International. He can be reached at [email protected].