Dental plaque identification

Dental Plaque Identification at Home

The home dental plaque identification test identifies plaque, a sticky substance that collects around and between teeth. The test helps show how well you are brushing and flossing your teeth.

Plaque is the major cause of tooth decay and gum disease (gingivitis). It is hard to see with the naked eye because it is whitish colored, like teeth.

How the Test is Performed

There are two ways to perform this test. One method uses special tablets that contain a red dye that stains the plaque. One tablet is chewed thoroughly, moving the mixture of saliva and dye over the teeth and gums for about 30 seconds. The mouth is then rinsed with water and the teeth are examined to identify pink-stained areas (unremoved plaque). A small dental mirror may help to check all areas.

The second method uses a plaque light. A special fluorescent solution is swirled around the mouth. The mouth is rinsed gently with water, and the teeth and gums are examined while shining an ultraviolet plaque light into the mouth. The advantage of this method is that it leaves no pink stains in the mouth.

In the office, dentists are often able to detect plaque through a thorough examination with dental instruments.

Normal Results

No plaque or food debris will be seen on the teeth.


What Abnormal Results Mean

The tablets will stain areas of plaque dark-red.

The plaque light solution will color the plaque a brilliant orange-yellow.

The colored areas show where the brushing and flossing have missed. These areas need to be brushed again to get rid of the stained plaque.

Considerations

The tablets may cause a temporary pink coloring of the lips and cheeks. They may color the mouth and tongue red. Dentists suggest using them at night so that the color will be gone by morning.

The diagnosis of carious lesions

Dental caries, or cavities, is a chronic infectious disease experienced by more than 90 percent of adults in the United States. Recent changes in the epidemiology of dental caries have altered the presentation of the disease so that among children age 5 to 17 years, about 75 percent of the disease is now experienced in 25 percent of the population. Also, as understanding of the disease process has matured, the range of management strategies for dental caries has broadened.

Interventions to arrest or reverse the demineralization process that characterizes the development of a carious lesion are available, and several strategies for identifying those persons representing the quarter of the population who will experience an elevated incidence of dental caries have been reported.

The growing sophistication in available interventions for prevention and nonsurgical treatment of dental caries is matched by a similar increase in the available methods for diagnosis of carious lesions. The diagnosis of carious lesions has been primarily a visual process, based principally on clinical inspection and review of radiographs. Tactile information obtained through use of the dental explorer or "probe" has also been used in the diagnostic process. The development of some alternative diagnostic methods, such as fiber-optic transillumination (FOTI) and direct digital imaging, continue to rely on the dentist's interpretation of visual cues, while other emerging methods, such as electrical conductance (EC) and computer analysis of digitized radiographic images, offer the first "objective" assessments, where visual and tactile cues are either supplemented or supplanted by quantitative measurements.

This relatively recent growth in alternatives available for both diagnosis and management of dental caries has yet to be fully assimilated by dental practice. Thorough reviews of methods for diagnosis and management of dental caries should assist in that assimilation process.