Abstract
The objective of the study is to analyse the available evidence for the validity of the transillumination method in the diagnosis of interproximal caries. Bibliographic searches were carried out in three data bases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus) with the key words “Transillumination AND caries”. A total of 11 studies were selected for the qualitative analysis and meta-analysis. In the qualitative analysis, both in vivo and in vitro studies were included. The gold standards were tomography, digital radiography, and clinical visual diagnosis. The meta-analysis determined the sensitivity, specificity, and area below the ROC curve relative to the transillumination method in the diagnosis of caries in dentine. Meta-analysis results obtained for transillumination gave a sensitivity value of 0.69 (confidence interval: 0.54–0.81), a specificity value of 0.89 (confidence interval: 0.61–0.98), while giving an AUC value of 0.79 (confidence interval: 0.67–0.87). Transillumination is a method offering moderate validity in the diagnosis of carious lesions in dentine, there is no strong evidence that may enable us to affirm that transillumination may fully substitute X-rays in the complementary diagnosis of carious lesions
Highlights
Dental caries is an infectious disease stemming from the interaction of various factors
We focus on transillumination methods: Digital Fiber Optic Transillumination (DIFOTI), and Near-Infra-red Light Transillumination (NILT)
The examiners gave a value that corresponded to the extent of the carious lesion and, subsequently, the same tooth was observed by each examiner using a
Summary
Dental caries is an infectious disease stemming from the interaction of various factors. The resulting situation involves the characteristic progressive destruction of calcified tissue in teeth due to the pathogenic action of acidic products arising in the bacterial metabolism of fermented carbohydrates in the patient’s diet [1,2]. It is a disease with a diminished prevalence in the last two decades, in developed countries, due to the widespread introduction of fluoride in toothpaste [1]. It is considered to be a public health problem warranting a correct diagnosis, above all in terms of attaining a reliable diagnosis in initial pathological phases
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