Spectrophotometric method for assessing the degree of moisture content of tooth dentin in clinical conditions: randomized controlled clinical study

Background: Justification Drying the dentin of a tooth with open dentinal tubules does not give the desired result, since the high speed and, as a consequence, the extremely short time of their refilling reduce the effectiveness of this manipulation to zero. Consequently, the ingress of dentinal fluid into the adhesive system of the composite is inevitable. Development of methods that provide the possibility of reducing the negative impact of dentinal fluid on the quality of adhesion of composite materials based on hardware assessment of the degree

 AIM: Is to develop a clinical method for assessing the degree of moisture content of tooth dentin using spectrophotometry.

Material and methods: To study the dynamics of dentin moistening with dentin fluid, a VITA Easyshade spectrophotometer (VITA Zahnfabrik H. Rauter GmbH & Co, Germany) was used. The degree of moisture of tooth dentin was determined by analyzing its color characteristics such as lightness (L), saturation (C) and color tone (H), the values ​​of which change over time during the concentration of dentin fluid on its surface.

Results: Density of dentin not treated with sodium hypochlorite after 5 minutes increases, according to the numbers of lightness (L) (from 82.6 to 73.1 units), by 11.8%, according to the numbers of saturation (C) (from 25.5 to 20.2 units) by 20.8%. Density of dentin treated for 5 minutes with 3% sodium hypochlorite increases according to the numbers of lightness (L) (from 76.5 to 74.6 units) by 2.5%, and saturation (C) of color (from 22.4 to 21.1 units) by 5.9%.

Conclusion:  Thus, the spectrophotometry method can be used for objective assessment of the dynamics of changes in the density (humidity) of dentin of vital teeth in clinical conditions. The use of 3% sodium hypochlorite for treating dentin before restoring hard tooth tissues with composite materials significantly reduces its humidity, which has a beneficial effect on adhesion.