Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Different Caries Removal Methods in Primary Teeth With Micro‐Computed Tomography and Scanning Electron Microscopy–Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy of X‐Ray

This study evaluated the effectiveness of conventional rotary instruments (CRI), atraumatic restorative treatment (ART), and the BRIX-3000 chemomechanical caries removal gel by measuring bone mineral density (BMD) and mineral composition in vitro. The carious dentin of 50 extracted human primary molar teeth was removed by using three different methods and restored with high-viscosity glass ionomer cement FUJİ-IX. The BMD values measured from all sections of the cavity floor in the BRIX-3000, ART, and CRI groups are 1.72, 1.79, and 1.66 g/cm³, respectively. SEM-EDX measurements were performed on five randomly selected teeth from the groups. In the BRIX-3000 group, the mean wt Ca% was 65.6, wt P% was 25.34, and the Ca/P ratio was 2.57. In the ART group, 65.75, 23.79, and 2.58 were found, respectively. In the CRI group, 65.73, 26.03, and 2.53 were found, respectively. While there was no difference between the wt Ca% values in all groups in the comparison of the cavity floor and adjacent sound dentin of the samples, the wt P% values were statistically significantly higher on the sound dentin surface.