Early detection of gingivitis by image analysis

Abstract

We investigated the use of two types of digital image analyses for the objective evaluation of gingival condition. The subjects were 15 adults with a mean age of 24±2 years who were informed about the goals of this study and agreed to participate. Photographs of the gingiva were taken with an oral digital camera and the images were analyzed with a quantitative light-induced fluorescence system. Subjects were told not to brush for 7 days and then were reexamined by the same methods after days 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7. Analysis of the gingival digital images revealed changes in the subjects' gingival swelling when the surface shape was expressed in three-dimensions. When images of the gingiva were analyzed with the QLF system, it was found that changes in the color of the gingiva were more objectively expressed with red in the gingiva than with the green fluorescence of the sound surface of teeth. We found that this apparatus could be useful for the objective evaluation of gingivitis because it could express changes quantitatively.