Application of optical and spectroscopic technologies for the characterization of carious lesions in vitro

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

The detection of the beginning demineralization process of dental hard tissue remains a challenging task in dentistry. As an alternative to bitewing radiographs, optical and spectroscopic technologies showed promising results for caries diagnosis. The aim of the present work is to give an overview of optical and spectroscopic properties of healthy and carious human teeth in vitro by means of Raman spectroscopy (RS), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and hyperspectral imaging (HSI). OCT was able to represent microstructural changes below the enamel surface and revealed increased scattering for white spot lesions and a white scattering trail for deeper lesions. HSI showed similar absorbance characteristics for healthy and demineralized enamel over the entire spectrum and a characteristic absorbance peak at 550 nm for discolored lesions. Already at early carious stages (white spot), we found a distinct loss of hydroxylapatite-related intensity at 959 cm-1 in demineralized regions with RS. Healthy and demineralized tooth surfaces can be distinguished at different signal levels by means of RS, OCT and HSI. The presented modalities provide additional information to the current clinical diagnosis of caries such as microstructural changes, quantification of the demineralization and imaging of caries-related chemical changes.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)519-527
Number of pages9
Journal Biomedical engineering : joint journal of the German Society for Biomedical Engineering in VDE and the Austrian and Swiss Societies for Biomedical Engineering
Volume63
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - 25 Oct 2018
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 30144381
ORCID /0000-0002-0633-0321/work/141544788
ORCID /0000-0002-8160-3000/work/142248345
ORCID /0000-0003-0554-2178/work/142249822
ORCID /0009-0008-7642-8608/work/142255314
ORCID /0000-0003-2292-5533/work/142256562

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • caries diagnosis, hyperspectral imaging, optical coherence tomography, Raman spectroscopy