ICON: a revolutionary new product for the treatment of incipient caries

Gunz Dental has launched the long awaited ICON range from DMG Hamburg. A new caries infiltrant, ICON provides the dentist with a definitive no drilling treatment option for incipient dental caries, with a radiographic depth up to the outer third of the dentine. This innovative new minimally invasive treatment means no more "wait and see" until its' time to drill. ICON is totally unique and requires no drilling or anaesthesia.

Researchers at the Berlin Charité* developed the new treatment method to arrest caries in their initial state without sacrificing healthy tooth structure. In close cooperation with the research team, DMG converted this infiltration concept into a user friendly revolutionary product known as ICON.

Thanks to the 'caries infiltration' system of treatment and patented inter-proximal and smooth surface applicators developed by DMG, treatment is quick and easy. Unnecessary loss of healthy hard tissue is prevented and incipient caries can be arrested in one sitting, without anaesthesia or drilling.

"For the patient, this treatment approach is invaluable because when caries is detected, early hard tissue can be preserved and the life expectancy of the tooth prolonged", said Susanne Stegen, Managing Director at DMG.

ICON offers the dentist a definitive treatment option whereby early stage caries can be treated successfully in one sitting and as the treatment is provided without drilling or anaesthesia it is truly patient-friendly.Caries is among the most frequently occurring diseases and affects almost everyone. At the early stage, i.e. when the enamel becomes porous but is not yet fully destroyed, caries can be arrested by means of prophylactic measures such as fluoride therapy.

If the caries progresses to the point of cavitation, however, the dentist has to use the drill to restore the tooth with a filling. Especially for caries in interproximal spaces as it occurs predominantly in adolescents and in early adulthood, a relatively large amount of healthy tooth structure must be sacrificed in order to remove the actual decay.

Thanks to a new, virtually painless method - the caries infiltration -proximal caries can now be treated in a timely manner without the need for drilling. Icon involves the application of a composite onto the caries subsequent to the preparation of the surface. The composite penetrates into the porous enamel where it is cured and thus seals the caries.

If done correctly, this novel treatment method will prolong the need for a first restorative treatment considerably or even prevent it for a lifetime. In that regard, this therapy bridges the gap between prevention and restoration. Furthermore, this treatment approach improves the visual appearance of the caries which is why this method can also be applied to aesthetically relevant anterior areas.

* Charité is a joint institution of the Freie Universitat Berlin and the Humboldt-Universaitat and is celebrating its 300-year anniversary in 2010. More than half of the German Nobel Prize winners in medicine and physiology come from the Charité, among them Emil von Behring, Robert Koch and Paul Ehrlich.