On the sensitivity of thermophotonic lock-in imaging and polarized Raman spectroscopy to early dental caries diagnosis

• Published in: Journal of Biomedical Optics Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 025002 - 025005
• Main Authors: Tabatabaei, Nima, Mandelis, Andreas, Dehghany, Mehdi, Michaelian, Kirk H, Amaechi, Bennet T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.02.2012
• Subjects: demineralization; Demineralizing; Dental caries; Dental Caries - diagnosis; Dentistry; Diagnosis; Diagnostic systems; early caries detection; Early Diagnosis; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Humans; Imaging; Infrared Rays; polarized Raman spectroscopy; Progressions; Raman spectroscopy; Refractometry - instrumentation; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spectrum Analysis, Raman - instrumentation; Thermography - instrumentation; thermophotonic lock-in imaging
• ISSN: 1083-3668; 1560-2281
• DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.2.025002

Dental caries is the leading cause of tooth loss, which can promptly be prevented if detected in early stages of progression. Unfortunately, conventional diagnostic modalities currently used in dentistry lack the sensitivity to detect early caries. The authors' intention is to compare the ability of polarized Raman spectroscopy and thermophotonic imaging to make early caries diagnosis. Extracted human teeth with no visible stain or defects were artificially demineralized in accordance to a well-known protocol in dentistry for simulated early caries development at several demineralization stages. Samples were then inspected using polarized Raman spectroscopy and thermophotonic imaging. The sensitivities of these two diagnostic modalities are compared, and the results are verified using transverse micro-radiography. It was found that compared to polarized Raman spectroscopy, thermophotonic imaging exhibits superior sensitivity to very early stages of demineralization.