The recent odontologic era demands the eradication of dental caries which is still challenging besides having ample treatment modalities like air-abrasion, ultrasonic instrumentation, laser and chemomechanical method. Chemomechanical method of caries removal being non-invasive, costeffective always remains the choice of treatment but if some caries preventive measures could be added in them then it might render the remaining dentin more resistant to future caries attack. Newly introduced Apacaries Gel is one such material. Thus, this is an in vitro study to comparatively evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of chemo-mechanical caries removal agent i.e., Apacaries Gel with conventional method via rotary instrument. 80 exfoliated deciduous molars with caries involving dentin upto varying degree were selected for the study. The molars were divided into two groups: Group A; to assess the microhardness of remaining dentineand Group B; for bacteriological evaluation. After removal of the caries with the respective methods in both the groups, the efficacy and efficiency were evaluated by Vicker’s Hardness Tester and Light Microscope respectively. Though complete removal of caries was achieved in both the methods with no-significant difference, but there was less marked destruction of dentinal tubules in chemomechanical caries removal method as compare to conventional method. There was also non-significant difference found between both the groups regarding remaining dentine microhardness. Thus, concluding that Apacaries Gel can be recommended as an efficient, easy to perform, comfortable, hasselfree and less destructive solution for the patient seeking an alternative to the conventional method especially in children.
