Assessment of diagnostic accuracy of reveal® autofluorescent dental loupes for detection of biofilm, demineralization, and caries around orthodontic brackets

ABSTRACT Introduction: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Reveal autofluorescent dental loupes for detecting biofilm, demineralization, and caries around orthodontic brackets. Methods: Sixty patients were selected, being thirty patients without orthodontic treatment (control group) and thirty patients undergoing orthodontic treatment (experimental group). The 30 patients without orthodontics treatment were clinically evaluated by two previously calibrated evaluators, who assessed the presence of biofilm, demineralization, and incipient caries on the buccal surface of the upper anterior teeth by using two methods: G1 (n=30)-visual method; G2 (n=30)-Reveal® method. The 30 patients with orthodontic treatment were evaluated in the same way. In both groups, a scoring system was assigned to evaluate the variables of the study. For statistical analysis, an average score for each patient was calculated by adding the scores for each tooth and dividing by the number of teeth evaluated. A statistical comparison was performed by the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test (α = 0.05). Results: The Reveal method was more effective at detecting biofilm in patients without orthodontic treatment (p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between the Reveal method and the visual method in detecting demineralization and caries (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the Reveal method was more efficient in detecting biofilm and demineralization in patients with orthodontic treatment (p < 0.05) and showed no statistically significant differences compared to the visual method in detecting caries (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The Reveal autofluorescent dental loupes effectively detected biofilm, demineralization, and incipient caries around orthodontic brackets.