Pretty Iain A
Dental Health Unit, 3A Skelton House, Lloyd Street North, Manchester Science Park, Manchester, UK.
J Dent. 2006 Nov;34(10):727-39. doi: 10.1016/j.jdent.2006.06.001. Epub 2006 Aug 9.
Recent years have seen an increase in research activity surrounding diagnostic methods, particularly in the assessment of early caries lesions. The drive for this has come from two disparate directions. The first is from the dentifrice industry who are keen to develop techniques that would permit caries clinical trials (CCTs) to be reduced in duration and subject numbers to permit the investigation of novel new anti-caries actives. The second is from clinicians who, armed with the therapies to remineralise early lesions are now seeking methods to reliably detect such demineralised areas and implement true preventative dentistry. This review examines novel technologies and the research supporting their use. Techniques based on visual, optical, radiographic and some emerging technologies are discussed. Each have their benefits although systems based on the auto-fluorescence (such as QLF) of teeth and electrical resistance (such as ECM) seem to offer the most hope for achieving reliable, accurate detection of the earliest stages of enamel demineralisation.
近年来，围绕诊断方法的研究活动有所增加，特别是在早期龋损评估方面。推动这一发展的力量来自两个不同的方向。第一个方向来自牙膏行业，他们热衷于开发能够缩短龋病临床试验（CCT）持续时间并减少受试者数量的技术，以便能够研究新型抗龋活性成分。第二个方向来自临床医生，他们掌握了使早期病变再矿化的治疗方法，现在正在寻找能够可靠检测此类脱矿区域并实施真正预防性牙科治疗的方法。本综述探讨了新技术及其应用的相关研究。文中讨论了基于视觉、光学、放射成像以及一些新兴技术的方法。每种方法都有其优点，不过基于牙齿自发荧光（如QLF）和电阻（如ECM）的系统似乎最有希望实现对釉质脱矿最早阶段的可靠、准确检测。
