European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

RECENT ADVANCEMENTS IN PLAQUE AND CALCULUS DETECTION USING FLUORESCENCE TECHNIQUE

Subburaman Nivedha*

ABSTRACT

The oral cavity is an open growth system with uninterrupted interactions of microbes and their nutrients. Deposition of dental plaque causes inflammatory changes on the periodontium which can lead to the destruction of tissue and loss of attachment. Traditionally, dental plaque is often detected by clinicians either by screening the plaque directly from the tooth surface or changing its colour with a disclosing solution. But these assessment methods have the limitation of being subjective. Therefore, the results may vary from clinician to clinician. Recent methods of plaque detection takes advantage of the ability of natural teeth to fluoresce, when the light is absorbed at a specific wavelength and then emitted in a higher wavelength. The difference between natural fluorescence of sound tooth and that with dental plaque and calculus can be quantified using light-emitting devices, such as laser, xenon or LED, etc.,. The review article focuses on the recent techniques for detecting plaque and calculus using the fluorescence phenomenon.

Keywords: Dental plaque, Calculus, Detection, Recent advances, Fluorescence, Quantitative Light Induced Fluorescence, Laser Fluorescence, LED Fluorescence.