Caries Detecting Dyes - REALITY Publishing Company · Clear plastic box with clear plastic lid. The printing on the labels ... ©2005 REALITY Publishing Co. Vol. 19 The Ratings 101

1. Seek/Sable SeekUltradent

2a. Caries DetectorKuraray

2b. Caries Finder/Caries Finder GDanville Materials

3. Cari-D-TectGresco

4. SNOOPPulpdent

REALITY’S CHOICESCaries Detecting Dyes

©2005 REALITY Publishing Co. Vol. 19 The Ratings 99

©2005 REALITY Publishing Co. Vol. 19100 The Ratings

These materials are used to help you distinguish between affectedand infected dentin. Affected dentin is not infused with bacteria,and even though it might be softer than what we usually considerto be good, sound, hard dentin, should not be removed, whileinfected dentin must be removed before restoring the cavity. Thedye evidently works by bonding to denatured collagen in thedentin, which is a byproduct of the carious process. They also helpidentify cracks and the location of even partially calcified pulpaltissue as an aid in canal identification for endodontic treatment.

Do They Work? Is this concept of staining cavities to ensure removal of all cariesreally necessary? The studies are equivocal. Some support the useof these products, while others have found they encourage exces-sive sound tooth removal. There is even a concept called the “pinkhaze”, which is lightly stained, noncarious dentin that appearspink (if you use a red dye), but it is not to be removed. Therefore,if you choose to continue to use one of these products, you shouldnot just remove all the stained dentin indiscriminately.

Color The original was formulated with red dye, but there is a trend touse other, darker colors. This is due to the fact that red dye can beconfused with blood if there is an exposure or, in the case of a cer-vical lesion, bleeding from the tissue. Darker colors, however, canbe confused for amalgam stains.

Effect on Bond Strength We tested all of our CHOICES to see if any of them had a nega-tive effect on bond strength, including their use in combinationwith a self-etch adhesive. The results are listed in the commentaryfor each product.

Procedure These materials should be used as early into a cavity preparationas possible, since one of their main purposes is to keep you fromremoving too much tooth structure. They are applied for about 10seconds and rinsed off. Any deeply stained tooth structure shouldbe removed, usually with slowspeed burs or spoon excavators.They should be reapplied after you remove all the stained dentinto confirm no residual caries remains in the tooth. If you are nearthe pulp and the dentin is still stained, you will have to make thedecision to excavate the additional caries or stop and place an indi-rect pulp cap. This is where the “pink haze” is most critical.

Some clinicians apply one of these products at the exam visit asa way of determining which pits and fissures are carious. However,there is very little justification for this procedure, especially if theteeth have not had a thorough prophy to remove plaque and otherdebris from these hard-to-access areas.


$5.62

$5.62

$2.67

Bottle:$2.75

Syringe:$9.95

Caries Finder GDanville Materials

$2.38

Red

Dark Green

Red

$2.75 Green

Very darkblue

90% PropyleneGlycol

70% Propylene

Glycol

Propylene Glycol

Propylene Glycol

Propylene Glycol

Water

Syringe

Syringe

SqueezeBottle

EitherSqueezeBottle or Syringe

SqueezeBottle

EitherSqueezeBottle or Syringe

No Effect

No Effect

No Effect

Slight PositiveEffect


No Effect No Effect

SeekUltradent

Sable SeekUltradent

Caries DetectorKuraray

Caries FinderDanville Materials

SnoopPulpdent

Red

Cari-D-TectGresco $1.57

$3.75

$3.75

N/A

N/A

N/A

$1.89

N/A Dark Blue47% Propylene

Glycol, 47% Water

SqueezeBottle

6.9

6.5

8.7

4.6

5.7

5.6

2.8 Slight NegativeEffect

Slight NegativeEffect



No Effect

No Effect








No Effect

Caries Detecting Dyes

Product Kit Color Solvent DispenserWith OptiBond

Solo plusWith Prime & Bond NT

With Clearfil SEBond

Effect on Bond Strength

Refill pHCost/ml

Cost: $32.00/12ml ($2.67/ml)

Includes:• 2 btls (6ml ea)

Shelf life: 3 years

MSDS: Not included

Caries DetectorKuraray

www.kurarayamerica.com (4.0) 2a

The original formula from FusayamaConvenient packaging, with two bottles fortwo treatment rooms

Only one colorNo convenient applicator

DescriptionSeek D&C red dye in a 90% propylene glycol base. Sable Seek FD&C dark green dye in a 70% propylene glycolbase.

pHSeek 6.9Sable Seek 6.5


OptiBond Solo plus No effectPrime & Bond NT Slight negative effectClearfil SE Bond Slight positive effect

Packaging Clear plastic box with clear plastic lid. The printing on the labelsof the syringes resisted disinfection procedures well. Expirationdate is on box and is also chiseled into the individual syringes.LoFlo syringes have basically eliminated drips when changingsyringe tips, but it’s still prudent to be careful when removing thetip from the syringes.

Directions Plain paper foldout in 13 languages with 11 black and white pho-tos. Good information, logically presented.



You have to be careful or some of the dye will find its way to your clothes. If it does stain your clothes or carpet, attemptto remove it as soon as possible. These products can also stain restorations, especially those with less-than-perfect mar-gins. Dyes can be difficult to remove in these areas. Therefore, limit their application to the tooth that you are treating.

Cost: $26.99/4.8ml ($5.62/ml)

Includes:• 4 syringes (1.2ml ea)

$17.99/4 ($3.75/ml) • 20 Black Mini Brush tips

Shelf life: 3 years

MSDS: Included

Seek/Sable SeekUltradent(4.2) 1

Gives color optionEasy syringe delivery

Slightly lowers Prime & Bond NT bond strengthExpensive

http://www.kurarayamerica.com

http://26.99/4.8ml

DescriptionCaries Finder 1% Acid Red 52 in propylene glycol base. Caries Finder G FD&C green in propylene glycol base.

pHCaries Finder 4.6Caries Finder G 5.7


Caries Finder Caries Finder G

OptiBond Solo plus Slight positive effect Slight positive effectPrime & Bond NT No Effect Slight negative effectClearfil SE Bond Slight positive effect No effect

Packaging Bottle Plastic squeeze bottle in Ziploc bag in a cardboard box.Expiration date is on the bottle’s moisture-resistant label.Syringe Only available in the regular version. Push-type syringe inclear plastic tube. Expiration date is on the moisture-resistantlabel. Only comes with five syringe tips, the needle point of whichis very fine gauge, deadsoft, and much longer than usual (20mm).Material also tends to spurt out when pressure is first applied toplunger and continues to leak from tip unless you retract theplunger.

Directions Coated paper. Information for both types of packaging is straight-forward and easy to understand, but is oriented toward the bot-tles—syringes are never mentioned. Tells you to only remove non-sensitive stained tissue, but this obviously is only possible if thepatient is not anesthetized.

Bottle Cost: $27.50/10ml ($2.75/ml)

SyringeCost: $9.95/1.0g/1.0ml ($9.95/ml)• Includes 5 syringe tips

Shelf life: 3 years

MSDS: Included

(4.0)Caries Finder/Caries Finder GDanville Materials2b

Syringes

Gives color and delivery optionsRegular is original formula

Green lowers Prime & Bond NT bond strengthSyringe is most expensive by far


Description1% acid red 52 in propylene glycol base.

pH8.7


OptiBond Solo plus No effectPrime & Bond NT No effectClearfil SE Bond Slight positive effect

Packaging Translucent plastic squeeze bottles in a non-resealable plasticpouch. The printing on the bottle resisted rubbing off during dis-infection procedures well, but the expiration date is only printedon label of pouch, which would likely be discarded.

Directions Plain paper, three languages. Simple, straightforward. Warnsagainst leaving the dye in the cavity longer than 10 seconds.Longer contact time can presumably result in staining of the innerlayer of carious dentin, which should not be removed.


http://9.95/1.0g/1.0ml

Description Dark blue dye in water (47%) and propylene glycol (47%) base.

pH2.8


OptiBond Solo plus Slight negative effectPrime & Bond NT Slight negative effect Clearfil SE Bond Slight positive effect

Packaging White plastic squeeze bottle with screw-on cap. Comes in a clearplastic tube. Dispensing “straws” are also included. These are smallgauge, translucent white plastic tubes, 4.25cm in length, whichare inserted into the orifice of the bottle so you can dispense the

material directly into the preparation. This keeps drips to a mini-mum and, because the straw can be bent anywhere along itslength, allows you access to all areas of the mouth. Expiration datecan be found on the moisture-resistant label.

Directions Plain paper, five languages, simple, easy to follow.

Cost: $28.50/12ml ($2.38/ml) Shelf life: 2 years MSDS: Included

SNOOPPulpdent(3.8) 4

Cool colorGreat name

Lowers bond strength slightly for two adhesivesVery low pH

DescriptionVery dark blue FD&C (almost appears black) dye, water-based.

pH5.6


OptiBond Solo plus No effectPrime & Bond NT No effectClearfil SE Bond Slight positive effect

PackagingTwo options: (1) In the 30cc kit, a transparent plastic squeeze bot-tle with a Luer-Lock attachment on its top is contained in aZiploc bag with syringes, needles, and dropper tip. These areenclosed in a larger sealed plastic bag. The expiration date is print-

ed on the moisture-resistant bottle label. You connect the syringeto the bottle using the Luer-lock attachment and fill the syringe asmuch as you need. However, with only four syringes and tipsincluded, it is obvious that you need to buy a bunch a la carte.Youcan also attach the dropper tip to this bottle for easy dispensinginto a well or dappen dish.

(2) The 7cc squeeze bottles are packaged in tandem in a clearZiploc bag along with instructions, all of which is enclosed in asealed plastic bag. The expiration date is on the moisture-resistantbottle labels.

DirectionsPlain paper, simple to understand.



Cost: $47.00 ($1.57/ml)

Includes:• 1 bottle (30ml) • 4 syringes• 4 needle tips• 1 dropper tip

Cost: $26.50 ($1.89/ml)

Includes:• 2 bottles (7ml ea)

Shelf life: 2 years

MSDS: Included

Cari-D-TectGresco(3.9) 3

Least expensiveTwo choices for dispensing

Why only four syringes?Almost black color could be confused withresidual amalgam stain

Seek/Sable Seek, with their syringe delivery, scorehigh in convenience, but some felt they were difficultto control the volume applied to the tooth. They rinseoff cleanly and give you the option of two colors, butare also more expensive than the other products. Theyhave a slight positive effect in bond strength for one ofour test adhesives, while also having a slight negativeeffect on another. Their pH was the closest to neutralof this group.

Caries Detector is the original product created byFusayama, giving it the ultimate pedigree. In addition,its double bottle kit automatically stocks two treat-ment rooms. It does not affect bond strength on twoadhesives and slightly enhances it on the third. It alsohas the highest pH in this group.

Caries Finder gives you the choice between red orgreen, although the green had a slight negative affecton the adhesion of Prime & Bond NT. Nevertheless, itboosted the values of other adhesives. The red versionis now available in a syringe, although in this delivery,it is the most expensive product in this category.

Cari-D-Tect is the only product with a primarily water-based solvent, has no negative effect on any of theadhesives, and is the least expensive. However, itspackaging leaves something to be desired.

SNOOP gives you a unique dark blue color and snappyname. It slightly decreased the bond strength of theconventional adhesives, but slightly increased that ofthe self-etch type. Its aqueous formula may not be aseffective as the products with propylene glycol as theprimary base. Its pH is also lowest in this group.

REALITY



Caries MarkerVoco

DectorDen-Mat

To Dye ForRoydent

OTHER PRODUCTS IN THIS CATEGORY

Documents

Caries Detecting Dyes - REALITY Publishing Company · Clear plastic box with clear plastic lid. The printing on the labels ... ©2005 REALITY Publishing Co. Vol. 19 The Ratings 101