Thermovisiographic Study of Epicutaneous Testing with Dental Haptens in Different Concentrations

Abstract

Dental haptens are used to study sensitization to their respective dental materials. The concentration of haptens is important for the diagnostic process, as different concentrations lead to different severity of skin reactions. The aim of the study was to examine the dermal reactivity to 15 dental haptens in two different concentrations after the Patch test, by thermal imaging and calculating the temperature parameters of the respective reactions. The present study included 15 haptens from five different categories of dental materials, each with two different concentrations, with the objective to examine the results ensuring the Patch test. Thirty-three patients were included in the study. A total of 990 skin reactions were observed. They were subject to standard and thermal imaging evaluation. Approximately 5% of reactions were positive. The thermovisiographic indicator `dT' confirms the results of the standard readings, as its values vary from 0 to 0.8 ⁰C in the case of positive reactions. The study observed no significant differences in the results based on gender, both in the standard and in the thermal imaging examination. The study also confirms that it is necessary to apply certain concentrations of each hapten depending on its nature.