Abstract
Caries are treated by conservative restoration, but expansion and development of caries may cause pulpitis or periodontitis, and caries is considered a multi-factorial disease sharing many interrelating risk factors with the above dental diseases. These diseases usually start from the deciduous dentition to mixed dentition stage. Except some cases showing rapid progression, in most patients these diseases become chronic from the permanent dentition stage, and expand or progress over a prolonged period until the teeth are lost ending with an edentulous jaw. The conventional rotational cutting tool commonly used in the narrow buccal cavity has a high risk of causing damage to the oral mucosa of the tongue, lips, gingival, cheek and mouth floor in elderly patients seeking dental care who have delayed reflex, or conversely in small children who tend to move without warning. To solve this problem, we combined the conventional rotational cutting tool with an ultrasonic cutting system as well as a nondestructive caries detector using the transillumination effect provided by the guide portion of a multipurpose K-dental fiberscope. In this study, we validated this novel system using an in vitro simulation model and obtained useful clinical findings.
