Imagine if dentists could find clear signs of tooth decay long before dental lesions turn into cavities and without using X-rays. A new device cleared for commercialization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a potential tool for dentists to do just that. Developed and patented by researchers in the Division of Translational Oral Biology in the Department of Oral biology and Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, and licensed to Ortek Therapeutics, Inc., the Electronic Cavity Detection (ECD) System uses electrical conductance to diagnose and monitor enamel lesions on the biting surfaces of molars and premolars. Tooth enamel is electrically non-conductive unless breached by fracture or demineralization. When teeth begin to lose minerals, dentinal fluid from within the tooth percolates through the breached enamel site and enables the ECD to complete its electrical circuit.

The ECD features a handpiece with a probe tip and can precisely measure the amount of dentinal fluid in the pits and fissures of molars and premolars. The more fluid the ECD detects, the greater the severity or extent of the cavity or pre-cavity enamel lesion. This data is displayed on the ECD base unit.

The battery-powered lightweight tabletop Ortek ECD device detects this early mineral loss before a cavity forms. In clinical trials conducted through Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine, the ECD was up to 96% accurate in detecting microscopic pre-cavity enamel lesions. Lead researcher Israel Kleinberg, DDS, PhD, DSc, believes that the device will emerge as a new paradigm in oral healthcare and may help dentists diagnose and monitor pre-cavitated lesions in enamel that cannot be detected by X-rays.