Inspektor Dental Activities

Inspektor Dental focuses on monitoring dental caries lesions, plaque and calculus. Changes in these are slow and can be followed in time but most importantly they can be quantified with Inspektor's state of the art dental measuring systems. A better understanding of the caries process and a means to diagnose caries lesions in a very early stage are very important in order to be able to treat caries before it will become a real problem for the patient. Mostly, such treatment can be non-invasive.
Some of these more advanced methods of measurement of caries lesions are not yet available to the general dentist. First they are developed for use in dental research. After extensive scientific validation these methods have also become available for dentists. The dental group of Inspektor Research Systems targets its actions on the researchers in the dental field: Ph.D. dentists, research clinicians, physicists and biomedical engineers.

Dental professionals are referred to the website of Inspektor Dental Care bv for information about the clinical application and products that are available.

Dental topics

When Inspektor Research Systems was founded the main field of focus was the in-vitro dental caries research field. Systems were developed to quantify mineral loss and gain in the dental tissue within laboratory experiments. For in-vitro studies small slabs of extracted teeth are used. Together with the current standards the systems were improved and fine-tuned to produce highly reliable and repeatable measurement results. Today about 15-20 of the leading laboratories in the entire world use these in-vitro systems. In the last decennium the new exciting area of in-vivo dental diagnostic systems was introduced by Inspektor. Safe and comfortable systems are currently being developed. With the QLF™ measurement system the dentist gets a central role in the in-vivo assessment of dental caries, plaque, calculus, mouth hygiene etc.

Dental products

TMR, Transverse Microradiography was the first dental measurement system that was developed by Inspektor. The method is in-vitro by nature. Its introduction in the dental research field was 1986. With this system de- and remineralization parameters like

Z (Delta Z) and lesion depth can be acquired from tooth specimens. With the method X-Ray images on micro-film are made of 80-150

m thick tooth sections after a de- or remineralization experiment. The film images are scanned under a microscope and captured with specially developed software into the PC.
With LMR, Longitudinal Microradiography the loss of mineral at the surface of tooth specimens can be measured. The method is based on quantitative subtraction of microradiographic images of the same specimen at different stages of mineralization. With LMR the mineral changes of a tooth specimen can be followed in time on the same positions. LMR has become obsolete with the emergence of QLF™ which is easier, faster and more accurate.

QLF™, Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence is a new and highly sensitive method for determining short-term changes in lesions in the mouth. The method does not rely on X-rays and works on accessible surfaces of teeth. It is therefore a simple yet effective way to reveal caries lesions in teeth – long before they become severe enough to require filling. The 'QLFTM\clin' produces a strong beam of harmless blue light, and passes it down a short cable and into a person's mouth. An intra-oral camera fitted with a filter captures the resulting fluorescent images into a PC. Recent extensions of the method also allow for quantitative assessment of plaque, calculus, stain and oral-hygiene. QLF™ is the perfect tool to be used at the oral-hygienist's place of work. It will give the patient control over what is happening with his or her teeth. You can follow what is happening in a stage where you still can repair your tooth by non-destructive means and this is very useful for many people. QLF™ can be used in clinical trials to for qualification of e.g. toothpastes, mouthrinses, plaque- and stain removers. It can also be used for testing the caries prevention efficacy of for example beverages and chewing gum.

Dental Results

With the QLFTM\CLIN system measurement results with high precision and repeatability can be acquired. All products are fitted with easy-to-use and reliable software packages allowing for mass measurements and data management, and digital printouts for scientific or industrial presentations. Export to statistical programs like Microsoft Excel is fully supported. The use of all Inspektor products will drastically reduce the time needed for successful experiments or clinical trials and will therefore lead to substantial savings in cost.

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