Application of Mobile Photography with Smartphone Cameras for Monitoring of Early Caries Appearance in the Course of Orthodontic Correction with Dental Brackets

Abstract

The objective of this research was observation of patients, who underwent orthodontic tooth alignment correction with dental brackets, for the detection of white spots, (early stage of caries) based on the digital photographs taken with a smartphone Sony Xperia S. Color reading was realized taking into account the adjustment of color features of a standard ceramic tile that was selected during the dental brackets installation period, the photo of which was taken simultaneously during the dynamic observation period. The color scale RGB was transformed into CIE L*a*b scale on the basis of correction of RGB components of smartphone image with correction coefficient, which was recalculated for tile surface RGB values. Consequent evaluation of lightness of suspected spots on the enamel served for the detection of white spots appearance. The expert appraisal showed sensitivity of proposed method between 88.7% and 96.2% and specificity between 68.4% and 84.2%. The positive predictive value was between 89.5% and 94.0%; and the negative predictive value was between 72.7% and 86.7%. Digital smartphone photo color corrected on the basis of comparison with tile surface permits to diagnose white spots appearance in patients with orthodontic tooth alignment correction.