Ex vivo imaging of early dental caries within the interproximal space

Lin-P'ing Choo-Smith; Mark D. Hewko; Marc L. Dufour; Crystal Fulton; Pingli Qiu; Bruno Gauthier; Christian Padioleau; Charles-Etienne Bisaillon; Cecilia Dong; Blaine M. Cleghorn; Guy Lamouche; Michael G. Sowa

doi:10.1117/12.809553

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18 February 2009 Ex vivo imaging of early dental caries within the interproximal space

Lin-P'ing Choo-Smith, Mark D. Hewko, Marc L. Dufour, Crystal Fulton, Pingli Qiu, Bruno Gauthier, Christian Padioleau, Charles-Etienne Bisaillon, Cecilia Dong, Blaine M. Cleghorn, Guy Lamouche, Michael G. Sowa

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Proceedings Volume 7162, Lasers in Dentistry XV; 716206 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.809553
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2009, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is emerging as a technology that can potentially be used for the detection and monitoring of early dental enamel caries since it can provide high-resolution depth imaging of early lesions. To date, most caries detection optical technologies are well suited for examining caries at facial, lingual, incisal and occlusal surfaces. The approximal surfaces between adjacent teeth are difficult to examine due to lack of visual access and limited space for these new caries detection tools. Using a catheter-style probe developed at the NRC-Industrial Materials Institute, the probe was inserted into the interproximal space to examine the approximal surfaces with OCT imaging at 1310 nm. The probe was rotated continuously and translated axially to generate depth images in a spiral fashion. The probe was used in a mock tooth arch model consisting of extracted human teeth mounted with dental rope wax in their anatomically correct positions. With this ex vivo model, the probe provided images of the approximal surfaces revealing morphological structural details, regions of calculus, and especially regions of early dental caries (white spot lesions). Results were compared with those obtained from OCT imaging of individual samples where the approximal surfaces of extracted teeth are accessible on a lab-bench. Issues regarding access, regions of interest, and factors to be considered in an in vivo setting will be discussed. Future studies are aimed at using the probe in vivo with patient volunteers.

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Lin-P'ing Choo-Smith, Mark D. Hewko, Marc L. Dufour, Crystal Fulton, Pingli Qiu, Bruno Gauthier, Christian Padioleau, Charles-Etienne Bisaillon, Cecilia Dong, Blaine M. Cleghorn, Guy Lamouche, and Michael G. Sowa "Ex vivo imaging of early dental caries within the interproximal space", Proc. SPIE 7162, Lasers in Dentistry XV, 716206 (18 February 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.809553

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