The effect of video repositioning on the reliability of light-induced fluorescence imaging: An in vivo study

The ability to monitor longitudinally the development, arrest or resolution of early demineralised lesions is one strength of quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF). When taking sequential images of an individual's teeth for monitoring it has been suggested that the subsequent images should be taken from the same position the baseline image. To assist in this process, video repositioning software is available that enables automatic capture of images once the system identifies that they are similar enough to the baseline comparator. The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of such software-assisted capture improves the reliability of subsequent QLF analysis. 20 subjects had 34 surfaces (buccal and occlusal) imaged by 2 examiners at baseline, and again 1 week later using both manual and software-assisted (VidRep) systems. Analysis of the three key reportable values for QLF (ΔF, lesion area, ΔQ) suggested that there is no significant improvement in reliability using VidRep although VidRep demonstrates additional advantages above and beyond image geometry, relating to the speed of subsequent image analysis.