Caries Experience of Black Stained Teeth Using ICDAS II

Abstract

Background: Black Tooth Stain (BS) is one of the localextrinsic discolorations generally seen on cervical area ofa tooth and associated with low caries experience. Theaim was to analyse caries status of black stained teeth byInternational Caries Detection and Assessment System(ICDAS II).Methods: A total of 111 teeth with BS and 144 with non-BS teeth of 10 subjects were recorded. ICDAS Scores aftervisual (naked eye, mirror-sound and digital photography)and radiographic examinations. Group 1 ICDAS 0 scoreshas indicated ‘non-carious’; group 2 ICDAS 1-2 asreversible lesion (White spot lesion) and group 3 ICDAS3,4,5,6 were saved as ‘cavitated carious’ teeth. All teethwhich have restorations, crowns and such applianceswere excluded from the data.Results: The proportion of the teeth without caries issignificantly higher among the teeth with black-stain (BS)than the teeth without BS. (62.2% and 36.1% respectively;X2=18.231, p<0.001). More detailed analysis showed thatstatisticallysignificantdifference exists between all of thethree groups (p<0.001). Additionally, six of total 10patients were reported as suffering from Fe+ deficiencywith different degrees.Conclusion: Black stained teeth showed less caries scorescompared to non-BS. While it was a tooth-specific andlocal formation, ICDAS II enabled exact and tooth-specificdefinition.Keywords: Black Stain; Caries experience; ICDAS