Analyzing the oral biofilm using fluorescence-based microscopy: what’s in a dye?

Fluorescence illumination and observation is one of the most rapidly expanding microscopy techniques employed today, both in medical and biological sciences. Fluorescence-based microscopy offers several advantages over conventional optical and electronic microscopies, owing to sample fixing not being required and the possibility of observing bacterial vitality in live samples. However, it also has some disadvantages, such as the lower resolution power and the dependence on different dyes that, in some cases, may produce a bias in the vitality quantification.