Zeynep Ceren Pehlivan, Funda Yanikoglu, Dilek Tagtekin and Osman Hayran
Background: Black Tooth Stain (BS) is one of the local extrinsic discolorations generally seen on cervical area of a tooth and associated with low caries experience. The aim was to analyse caries status of black stained teeth by International 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 after visual (naked eye, mirror-sound and digital photography) and radiographic examinations. Group 1 ICDAS 0 scores has indicated ‘non-carious’; group 2 ICDAS 1-2 as reversible lesion (White spot lesion) and group 3 ICDAS 3,4,5,6 were saved as ‘cavitated carious’ teeth. All teeth which have restorations, crowns and such appliances were excluded from the data. Results: The proportion of the teeth without caries is significantly 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 that statistically significant difference exists between all of the three groups (p<0.001). Additionally, six of total 10 patients were reported as suffering from Fe+ deficiency with different degrees. Conclusion: Black stained teeth showed less caries scores compared to non-BS. While it was a tooth-specific and local formation, ICDAS II enabled exact and tooth-specific definition.
