Caries Removal by Chemomechanical ( Carisolv TM ) and Conventional ( Airotor ) Methods – Comparative In-Vitro Study

Aim: To compare the caries removal efficacy between chemomechanical method (Carisolv) and conventional method (airotor) in freshly extracted molars. Materials And Methods: 100 freshly extracted molars with dentinal caries on the occlusal surface were selected. Of which, 50 teeth were treated with chemo-mechanical (Carisolv) and in the other 50 teeth by conventional (airotor) method. Completeness of caries removal and the amount of operating time taken were assessed for evaluating the efficacy of caries removal. Student ‘t’ test was used for comparing the efficacy between chemomechanical method and the conventional method. Results: There was a highly significant (p=0.000) difference observed for the mean operating times between complete caries removal using chemo-mechanical method (5.38 ± 0.93 minutes) and conventional method (2.92 ± 0.52 minutes). All of the 50 teeth had no decay in the cavity after the preparation with conventional method, whereas only 44 teeth out of 50 teeth were without decay when treated with chemo-mechanical method. The observed difference between the two methods was statistically significant (p=0.027). Conclusion: Chemo-mechanical method can be used as an effective clinical alternative operating procedure for the removing occlusal dentinal caries in cavitated teeth, which has controlled removal of tooth structure and helps in increasing the patients’ compliance.